All That Glitters
by Darthanne
Summary: A case of mistaken identity leads the Tomorrow People to an old enemy. NS Tomorrow People/Roswell xover


All That Glitters ****

All That Glitters

By Anne Olsen

Author's notes

This is the third story in the series Tears in Heaven. For further information regarding the series please check out the web site at 

http://www.alternate-realities.net/tearsinheaven/ 

The events that take place during the prologue of this story happen during the first story in this series The Medusa Stone.

.

The remainder of the story takes place during the first season of Roswell between the episodes 'The Convention' and 'Blind Date.' Slight spoiler for season two opening episode.

Thanks to Jocelyn, John, Nicole, Sarah, Caroline and Kristin for their feedback and support while I was working on this story.

Special thanks to Wendy, beta reader extraordinaire. We had many long chats about this story as I was writing, and she helped with the fine-tuning of quite a few of the ideas.

Disclaimer

The characters of Adam Newman, Megabyte Damon, Kevin Wilson, Ami Jackson, Jade Weston, General William Damon, Colonel Masters, Millie Damon and Caroline Damon belong to Roger Damon Price, Thames Television and Nickelodeon. So do any other names or events linked to the Tomorrow People TV series.

Max Evans, Liz Parker, Maria DeLuca, Michael Guerin, Isabel Evans, Alex Whitman, Kyle Valenti, Sheriff Jim Valenti and Milton belong to Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and WB. All other concepts and events linked to Roswell also belong to them.

The characters of Joe Dawson and James Horton (who appear in name only) belong to Panzer/David, Rysher/Gaumont Television. So do the concepts of immortality, the Watchers and the Hunters.

The characters of Geoff Anderson, Gil Hawkins, Jim Beckett and Simon Trent belong to me and should not be used without permission.

Telepathy is indicated by []

Feedback to anneo@paradise.net.nz

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Prologue

November 1999

Jade Weston paced up and down on the beach outside the Tomorrow People's ship, trying not to think about the last telepathic message they had received from Adam and Megabyte. Every few moments she glanced over her shoulder at the tip of the spaceship protruding out of the white sand, and then back again at the foam crested waves surrounding the island. It was almost as though she was hoping against hope that either of the boys might suddenly appear out of thin air in front of her and that the whole situation had been nothing but a bad dream.

"Jade, are you okay?" Kevin Wilson put his arm around the young British girl, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be fine.

"No, I'm not!" snapped back Jade. "I'm really worried about Megabyte and Adam. What if General Damon doesn't find out what's wrong with them? Kevin, what are we going to do if they stay in that coma, or if they…" Her voice tailed off.

The two boys had gone with Megabyte's father, General Damon, to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, to the NORAD base there. What was supposed to be a simple tour of the base had soon turned into something much more dangerous. Jade, Ami and Kevin had received some very disturbing images from both their fellow Tomorrow People, followed by pain. Adam had told them all to stay away until he and Megabyte had found out what was affecting them and why.

Jade remembered arguing with Adam, but the older boy had been quite insistent. Shortly afterwards Megabyte had sent her some strange images involving a tall dark haired man. All telepathic contact had then been lost with her two friends. 

"Jade, I'm sure that's not going to happen. You've got to think positive. Come on, let's go back to the ship, Ami's worried too you know."

Ami had rang General Damon on his cell phone, surmising that if he had been with Adam and Megabyte he would know what had happened to them.

Megabyte's father had sounded worried. Both boys were hooked up to life support, and growing steadily weaker. Jade had talked to him and explained about the flash Megabyte had sent her, and he was going to look into it. That had been a good ten minutes ago and still they hadn't heard anything, or received any form of telepathic communication from either of their friends.

Jade backed away. "Look, Kevin, I think I need time to myself. I need to find something to keep my mind off things." She saw the worry in his eyes as she spoke, a mirror of what she was feeling herself. "I'll come back if anything changes, or when I feel I can cope better, promise."

She closed her eyes and concentrated, disappearing in a flash of white light, leaving Kevin on the beach, staring at the spot she had just been.

**************

Jade materialised in the small town of Roswell, New Mexico. She smiled to herself, a small shaky smile. Looking around, she noticed with relief that no one had seen her arrival.

It makes sense I suppose, she thought to herself. Megabyte and Adam are involved in something weird so I go and visit something equally weird. Strange way of keeping your mind off things, she chastised herself. Still, watching that programme about the Roswell landing with Megabyte the night before had made her curious about the whole thing. It was better she occupied herself here checking it out, than mope around the ship worrying.

Jade started walking through the town when a building with what she supposed was meant to be a flying saucer on a big sign, caught her eye. UFO centre, she read, noticing the pictures of so called aliens in the windows. Might be a giggle. After all it's not as though these people actually know what aliens really look like. Jade shivered, remembering her encounter with the alien pod people. 

"Can I help you?" asked a dark haired middle aged man coming towards her. Jade noticed all the UFO buttons and badges on the man's jacket as he came closer. Well, he looked normal enough, she thought, if maybe a bit on the geeky side.

"I was just thinking about looking in the UFO centre," she replied. To her surprise the man burst into a huge grin and took her by the arm. 

"Ah," he gushed. "Are you a believer? You're in luck young lady. I'm just about to open up for the day. You can be our first visitor. I'm Milton by the way and you are?"

Jade backed off a bit. He seemed a bit…weird. Still, why not? The way the guy was rabbiting on, he would certainly take her mind off her current worries. If he got too much, she could always make her excuses and disappear anyway. She noticed he was still talking. In fact he hadn't even noticed she hadn't told him her name.

Jade followed the man in through the front door. The place was really quiet. Quiet, apart from Milton talking on and on that was. He turned and asked her a question directly, and she realised with a touch of guilt, that she hadn't really been taking in much of what he had been saying.

"I've just given my young assistant a very interesting book to read. In fact he seems quite taken with it. Have you read James Atherton's 'Among Us?"

"No, I don't think I've heard of that one," Jade replied honestly. She looked around the museum, and spotted a display which took her interest. "Do you really think the UFO crash in 1947 was a weather balloon?" Old newspaper clippings were tacked to the board. There were also a couple of models of weather balloons of the time sitting on a nearby table. An artist's impression of a spaceship looking suspiciously like a weather balloon sat framed next to it. It was there to emphasis the likeness between the two, she surmised. 

"No, of course not. It was a government cover up, don't you think? I mean there are probably aliens and the like walking around among us right now and we'd never know. The government likes to keep all that stuff to themselves you know. I mean, how do you know I'm not some sort of mind reading alien, knowing exactly what you're thinking right now?"

Milton's last question took Jade a bit by surprise, and she stared at him, not sure how to answer. 'Well, I'd know because I'm a Tomorrow Person' didn't really seem to be the answer to give under the circumstances. She was about to change the subject when she heard a familiar telepathic voice in her mind.

[Hiya, squirt.]

[Megabyte! Are you and Adam okay?]

[Yeah, we're fine, but keep the volume down okay? My head still hurts.] Jade could feel the red head mentally wince as he 'spoke'.

[We're fine, Jade,] Adam sounded quiet, as though he had a lot on his mind. [I'm still not sure the danger's over though.]

Ami's mental voice interrupted the telepathic conversation. [Jade, come back to the ship…]

Jade was aware of a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Milton seemed concerned. "I didn't mean to scare you with all that talk about government cover ups and aliens you know." He lowered his voice. "It's just that most people don't realise that stuff exists. It's important that they do, that's why I told you."

"I'm fine." How was she going to get away from the man, she thought? He certainly seemed to enjoy having a captive audience. She giggled to herself, as she thought of her next course of action. Adam wouldn't be impressed, she knew, at what she was about to do, but hey, she needed a bit of a laugh after the last few hours.

"Hey," she said, pointing to the other side of the room. "Isn't that one of those mind reading aliens you were talking about earlier?"

As Milton turned around to look where she was pointing, Jade closed her eyes and teleported.

*******************

February 2000

Part One

Jade looked around as she and Megabyte materialised on the outskirts of Roswell. "Five minutes walk and we should be at the UFO centre," she told him.

"Five minutes walk?" Megabyte complained. "At least you could have found a spot closer to town, couldn't you?"

"Considering the amount of breakfast you helped yourself to when you picked me up, its not going to do you any harm is it?" Jade still found it amazing the amount of food her fellow Tomorrow Person managed to pack away. She had a sneaky suspicion he'd already eaten when he'd teleported in too. 

"Hey all this TP stuff makes me hungry," retorted the redhead. "It's a long trip teleporting between my house and yours." 

"Yeah right, Megabyte." Jade said. "I think you'll like this UFO centre. A lot of the alien artefacts reminded me of those cheesy movies you like so much."

"Attack of the Killer Cucumbers is a classic," protested Megabyte. "Did I ever take you to see the sequel?"

Jade shuddered. "Yes you did, unfortunately. It's an experience which haunts me to this day."

Megabyte ignored her in favour of a small dog being chased by two children down the footpath of what she presumed was the main street. As Jade watched the dog skidded to a halt as it approached the kerb and one of the children, a small darkhaired girl, slipped a leash around its neck and waited for her companion to catch up. "This place is quiet for somewhere that supposedly had an alien landing back in the forties. I always thought Roswell would be bigger for some reason. " Trust Megabyte to come out with a statement like that, she thought.

"You mean in comparison to Vermont?" Jade watched the other townspeople going about their business. There were children playing ball in the nearby park and a couple of high school age boys talking to each other enthusiastically as they headed for what looked like some sort of sporting practice. At least that 's what she presumed they were heading for. She ducked as their football sailed over her head.

"Sorry," yelled one of the boys as he ran past her enroute to saving his ball from the oncoming traffic. A car skidded to a halt, narrowly missing both the boy and his ball. He waved to the driver and continued on his way.

"Hold up," yelled his companion and broke into a sprint, as a couple of middle-aged women with toddlers in tow looked up to see where the noise was coming from.

She hadn't thought it was that quiet, but Megabyte was used to the middle of London these days, she supposed, even though he still seemed to think of Vermont as *the * place to be on the planet. "Do you still think it's quiet?" she asked him.

Megabyte reached out and ruffled Jade's hair with his hand. "I suppose where you come from this is as much excitement as you get in a week. You forget I don't come from a small English village where nothing ever happens. Oh yeah, apart from the odd alien invasion, but who's counting." 

Jade grinned at Megabyte's reaction to her dig at his own hometown in the States. Roswell was a lot bigger than her village in England and they both knew it. As to the size of Vermont, well she only had Megabyte's word on that one. One of these days she'd talk him into taking her there and giving her the grand tour. "The UFO centre is over this way." Jade pointed to the building across the street. 

"You mean it's that building that says UFO centre?" Megabyte's voice had a touch of sarcasm in it. Jade turned around to say something equally sarcastic back and noticed Megabyte was looking at something in the window of a nearby building. You have got to be joking, she thought as she noticed what it was he was reading.

"Hey this looks interesting squirt. Maybe we should check this out first." Megabyte gestured to the sign on the door. "I think all this walking has given me an appetite."

Jade groaned. "I'm beginning to think everything gives you an appetite, Megabyte." Crashdown Café she read, noticing the alien spaceship over the door. These people certainly seem to have aliens on the brain. I wonder what they'd think if they knew there really were aliens out there, she thought. "Okay, we'll stop and eat first. You have to pay though, I've only got English currency on me."

"You mean you brought me to the States without any money? Typical." Megabyte started to walk through the door of the café when he paused and turned to Jade. "How were you planning to get into the UFO centre then?" he asked.

Jade shrugged and flashed him a grin. "Isn't the man supposed to pay for these things?" she asked sweetly. She pushed her way in ahead of him and sat herself down at the nearest table. As Megabyte sat down across from her, she noticed with amusement how his face seemed to be changing colour. Got you, she thought.

"No way this is a date…" Megabyte started to say, then fell silent as he started to read the menu. A rather large grin formed on his face as he eyes travelled down the length of the small piece of laminated cardboard in front on him.

Jade ran her hands through her long blond hair, and wondered what was so interesting about the menu that it had stopped her friend mid- sentence. "Honestly, Megabyte, if I didn't know you better, I'd swear you were more interested in reading the menu than actually ordering." She wondered again if she had made the right decision in asking Megabyte to come to Roswell with her. Maybe Kevin would have been a better choice.

"So what do you want to try first, Jade? What about the tossed alien salad, or maybe the unidentified french flying object?"

Jade snatched the menu out of his hand. "Very funny, Megabyte. I suppose you think that's really smart, don't you?" 

Megabyte laughed as he saw the expression on her face as she started reading for herself. "Got you, squirt. I knew you wouldn't believe me when I started reading it out to you."

Jade snorted in disgust and was about to say something when a waitress approached their table. She was about the same age as Jade herself, and was very pretty with long dark hair. The silver apron over her blue waitress' dress was shaped to look like an alien's face. There were even black oval eyes printed on the front to complete the theme of the outfit. In her hair she wore what Jade presumed were supposed to be alien antenna. 

"Hi," said the waitress. "My name's Liz. Are you ready to order yet?" 

"Almost," replied Jade, kicking Megabyte under the table. Her companion seemed lost for words for once. She could see him staring at the waitress. In fact he didn't seem to be able to take his eyes off her.

[Megabyte!] she 'pathed. [Don't look so obvious. Keep your mind on the menu and stop drooling.] You're supposed to be here with me, anyway, she added to herself. One of these days she was going to give up hoping that Megabyte Damon was going to ever think of her as anything but a friend. I suppose I can always dream, she thought.

"Sorry, Jade, did you say something?" asked the redhead.

Jade felt her face going beet red, and checked her mental shields to make sure they were still securely in place. "I said that we were just about to order," she retorted.

*****************

"So, are they a couple?" asked Maria DeLuca as Liz gave the order to the cook. "Did you find out what the redhead is called? I still think he's really cute. Maybe I should take their order to them when it's ready. What do you think?"

Liz Parker watched the interaction between the two with amusement. They reminded her in a way of her friends Maria and Michael, constantly baiting each other while hiding their true feelings. Well at least these two didn't have the added complication that one of them wasn't exactly a normal teenager. Scratch the teenager bit, she added to herself as she eyed up Megabyte again. He was definitely at least a couple of years older than herself or Jade.

"I think you're still trying to make Michael jealous," replied Liz. "Honestly, Maria, he's not even here to notice."

"Well, girlfriend, I might as well just go and check out the talent then. I mean, at least this guy's not Czechoslovakian. It would be nice to chat to someone who's not tied up with you know what, for a change." 

Liz smiled to herself as Maria used the word Czechoslovakian, the word they had agreed to use instead of 'alien.' Of course Alex had pointed out that Czechoslovakia hadn't existed for quite some time but that was beside the point. It reminded her of a time when things were still simple, before Max had saved her life by healing her when she had been shot. Before he had told her that he, his sister Isabel, and friend Michael Guerin, were not, to use the term he preferred, of this earth. Even though life had been less complicated then, she still wouldn't go back to the way things were. She couldn't imagine not having Max Evans as part of her life, even though their relationship still wasn't exactly the way she would like. Max seemed too worried about how a relationship with him might put her in danger.

Liz was still deep in thought, when the cook finished the order for table seventeen. Maria grabbed the plates before her friend could change her mind, and headed for the redheaded guy and his friend.

**********

"Hi, I'm Maria, hope you enjoy your lunch. Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

Jade stared at the blonde girl in front of them, wondering what had happened to the other waitress. "I'm Jade," she said, "And this is my friend, Megabyte."

"Megabyte. That's an interesting name. Are you good with computers or something?"

"Something like that," mumbled Megabyte, glaring at Jade at the same time. He had noticed the look on her face, and was wondering what she was going to say. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to tease her the way he had. Hopefully Jade wouldn't say anything *he * might regret later.

Maria was still talking. "You're not from around here are you? I mean I haven't seen you before, and I didn't think anyone new was moving into town. You aren't starting at Roswell High are you?" 

"Sorry I've done my whole torture in high school thing already. I'm concentrating my efforts on college these days. Jade, though, she's still into…" Megabyte's voice tailed off as Jade kicked him under the table and said something rude telepathically. He grinned. Funny how Jade knew what he had been about to say. "Yeah, we're just passing through for the day. Jade wants me to have a look at this UFO centre that you guys have."

Maria motioned Liz over as she continued. "Actually, we might be able to help you there. Liz' friend Max works there. If you ask for him, he'll be able to give you the grand tour. Isn't that right, Liz?"

[Told you she had a boyfriend, Megabyte,] 'pathed Jade.

"Thanks, that sounds really cool. So if we just ask for Max, we should find him, then?"

Liz nodded again and gave the two Tomorrow People a friendly smile. "I'm off work in a bit. If you like I can…" She noticed the frantic signs Maria was giving her, and amended what she was saying. "Or rather, we can, meet you over there afterwards and maybe we can all go out for coffee or something."

******************

Part Two

As Jade and Megabyte approached the UFO centre, Jade paused and looked around, shivering as she did so. 

"What's wrong?" Megabyte sensed her uneasy feelings, and saw her shiver. This wasn't like Jade. He hoped this wasn't sign of something bad about to go down. The last couple of months had been uneventful, at least from the Tomorrow Peoples' point of view. The psychos of the planet seemed to have taken an extended vacation, which was a good thing. At least Megabyte hoped it was an extended vacation; that they weren't merely lying in wait, ready to pounce when he and the others weren't looking.

"Nothing. Just had a funny feeling for a moment. It's gone now. It's probably nothing." 

"Hope you're not going to start getting premonitions on me," joked Megabyte. "I thought that was supposed to be Ami's speciality." 

Jade still didn't look happy. "Must be my imagination," she reasoned out loud, "I mean, if there was something here you'd feel it as well, wouldn't you? I'm not the only Tomorrow Person here, remember."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Megabyte put his arm around Jade to reassure her. "Probably just your imagination. Come on, let's have a look inside and try and find this Max." He didn't tell Jade that he was also getting a sense of something not quite right. He'd been feeling a bit jumpy ever since that run in with that madman, Ramiis, a few months back. He hoped Jade wasn't picking up on his overactive imagination. Yeah, that was probably it. No point ruining the day. He knew Jade was really looking forward to showing him what she had seen here. Maybe he'd have a talk to Adam when they got back to the ship. He glanced around before he ushered Jade inside anyway, just to reassure himself.

***********

Neither of them had noticed the nondescript black car parked a few metres down the street, on the other side. One of the men in the car nudged his companion, a middle aged man dressed in jeans and a casual shirt.

"Yes, Hawkins, what is it?" Jim Beckett shot his partner a look that said what Hawkins already knew. His partner thought this stake out was a total waste of time.

Their employer had told them to keep an eye on a teenager who worked at the UFO centre. He seemed convinced he had some kind of psychic powers. Hawkins remembered his partner's reaction to the reports as they read them. Beckett hadn't believed a word of them. The reports were full of some wild idea that the boy had healed some girl just by placing his hand on her. So far they hadn't been able to substantiate any of the story, but still who was he to argue? They were both being paid very well to keep up the surveillance, very well indeed.

Hawkins himself was a lot more open to the possibility that there were things out there they didn't know existed. Teenagers who appeared human, but were actually freaks of nature. With what he knew existed in the world, he was sure it was possible.

"Did you see that redheaded kid who just walked in? The one with the young girl? I'm sure he's one of the kids we're supposed to be looking out for." Gil Hawkins looked again at the photo in his hand. It certainly looked like the same kid, though of course he would be older now. It was a shame they didn't have a photo of the other boy, the one whom they were presuming was the one they were watching. Apparently he was a bit elusive. Their employer only knew that his name was Adam and that he was Australian. The boy who worked in the UFO centre was called Max but the description was similar, and he could have always changed his name and accent.

Their employer was convinced that Max was this Adam he had known some years ago. He had told them to watch the boy carefully and to let him know if he did anything out of the ordinary, though Hawkins and Beckett weren't quite sure what he meant by that statement. It had been assumed that they would know if and when it happened. They had also been told that the boy was a teleporter and that the others they were supposed to be watching out for were as well.

Beckett dialled the number they had been given and waited for the person at the other end to answer. When he relayed what, or rather whom, Hawkins had thought he had seen, the man on the other end of the speaker phone paused for a minute before replying. When he did so, he spoke faster, the urgent tone obvious in his voice.

"Are you sure it's the same boy?"

"As far as we can tell from the photo, sir. Looks a bit older, but definitely the same boy."

"This confirms my suspicions. He must be here to meet the other one. Proceed with extreme caution. I want both of them alive. Remember what I told you about their special abilities. Do you have the weapons you were issued with?"

Both men checked their sidearms and confirmed that they did. They still didn't quite believe what they had been told about those so-called abilities, but then again they weren't being paid to believe, just to get the job done. 

************

Megabyte looked around the room with interest, as Jade showed him the various displays. Someone had certainly gone to an awful lot of trouble to research this whole alien landing thing.

"Here's the bit about the weather balloon," explained Jade. "Isn't this place so cool? So what do you think?"

"Yeah, really cool, Jade. These so called aliens don't exactly look the same as those pod people though, do they?" Megabyte was referring to the aliens they had run into when Jade had first broken out, that is, become a Tomorrow Person.

"Come on, Megabyte. Don't you believe that a UFO could have landed in 1947? You can't tell me, after all you've seen lately, that you don't believe it's possible."

Megabyte shrugged. "Who knows? I mean, the whole thing sounds like something out of a movie or a TV series. But then again…" 

"When you consider what we know exists," Jade finished his sentence. "I suppose what we can do sounds like science fiction as well, and what about…" She stopped as she noticed someone approaching.

A dark haired teenager was walking towards them. "Hi," he said. "I'm Max. Milton said you were asking for me."

"Milton?" asked Megabyte.

"Yeah, the guy that runs this place. He told me on his way out that you wanted to see me."

Oh yeah, the geeky guy who kept giving Jade funny looks. Megabyte wondered what exactly Jade had gotten up to the last time she was here. His train of thought shifted as both he and Jade stared at the newcomer. This must be Liz's friend. He looked like a typical teenager, but he was getting some really strange vibes from him. Megabyte's mind went back a couple of months to the last time this had happened to him. Tell me this isn't another immortal, he thought.

Max reached out his hand, and as Megabyte took it the flash hit him. Within moments The Tomorrow Person found himself gazing at the twinkling lights of some sort of starscape. He didn't even have time to register what he was seeing before some kind of white light blinded him. As it faded he had the sense of being inside some kind of spaceship. At least it seemed like some kind of spaceship. Yeah right, like he was an expert on the interiors of spaceships. He then felt as though he was climbing out of some sort of cocoon thing and reaching out to someone else. Megabyte felt himself sway slightly as the familiar walls of the UFO centre re established themselves in front of his eyes. Whoa for a flash, that was strong. Who was this guy?

[Megabyte, are you okay? What was that?] Jade's voice had an edge of panic in it. Obviously she had seen the same thing he had. As Jade showered him with telepathic questions, Megabyte realised that Max was speaking. 

"Sorry," Max said. "I didn't catch your names." He was obviously trying to pretend nothing had happened though Megabyte got the impression that Max was just as unnerved by their meeting as he and Jade were. What or who was Nasedo? As he picked up on the rather loud surface thoughts that were running through Max's mind, Megabyte couldn't help but wonder if he had received some sort of flash too. Was that possible?

Megabyte decided the best approach was to put on a friendly act, and leave the questions for later. He didn't sense anything hostile from this Max, and yet there was something not quite normal about him. He laughed to himself nervously, as a thought occurred to him. Yeah like Jade or himself were what you would call normal, either. Maybe if they gained Max's confidence they could find out some answers later.  
  
"I'm Megabyte, and this is Jade. Your friends Liz and Maria, at the Crashdown, told us to look you up."

Megabyte waited for Max to reply, but instead the young man fell to the floor as a bright light struck him squarely in the chest. Megabyte spun around as two men stepped out from behind one of the display boards in the room. Both were holding weapons of some sort, weapons that were pointed at Jade and himself.

[Teleport, Jade. Go warn Adam and the others.]   
  
Jade hesitated. [Megabyte…] 

[Don't argue, Jade. Go now. I'll grab Max and be right behind you.] Megabyte watched in horror as he saw a bright light hit Jade just as she vanished from view. [Jade!] 

"Quick, grab the other one before he teleports as well."

Teleports? Thought Megabyte. Oh crap, they knew about the teleporting, he realised. He tensed himself, ready to dive over to grab Max and teleport after Jade, when he felt something pushed against his back, and his arms were twisted behind him.

"Disappear, and I'll kill the other one."

Megabyte turned his head and saw a man in his late twenties pointing some sort of weapon at him. His bleached blond hair stood out in the dim lighting of the room. His companion, who looked about ten years older, had a similar weapon aimed at Max.

"Okay," he said. "I won't disappear. Who are you, and what do you want?" He reached out telepathically and tried to contact Jade. If she had lost consciousness before she had finished teleporting she could be in big trouble. He felt Jade at the edge of his mind, but couldn't get her to answer. As Megabyte prepared to contact Adam to warn him about what was happening, he felt a shock run through his body. He felt himself start to fall as he tried to fight off the approaching darkness. As he lost consciousness the memory of Jade teleporting re ran itself through his brain and he frantically tried to reach out for help telepathically. Hope you're okay kid….

***************

Part Three

Adam Newman put down the book he was reading as Jade materialised in front of him. As she appeared, he felt an echo of something run through him, reminiscent of a mild electric shock. She looked around her, as though in a daze, and then collapsed.

Adam shook her, calling her name as he did so, but got no response. He lifted her onto the mattress he used as a bed when he stayed at the ship, and tried to contact her telepathically.

No reply. 

He could still sense her, but couldn't establish any communication at all. She was definitely unconscious. It was lucky, he reflected, that she had managed to teleport when she had. Obviously she had initiated the teleport only moments before whatever had caused this, had affected her. 

[Jade!]

Adam frowned. That sounded like Megabyte. He hoped that the American hadn't run into the same thing as Jade had. Adam concentrated and reached out for his friend, hoping to get some answers. He stopped his telepathic search as he felt something similar to what he had picked up from Jade minutes before, but a lot stronger. Whatever it was, the sensation had come from Megabyte. 

[Megabyte! Are you okay?] Adam was sure his friend was definitely in some sort of trouble. What had he and Jade walked into?

Two light signatures materialised in front of him. Ami Jackson and Kevin Wilson looked around, taking in the situation in a single glance.

"Adam, did you feel that?" Ami looked worried as she bent over Jade. "I thought I heard Megabyte call out, but I can't contact him." 

"I felt something like some sort of electric shock," added Kevin. "Do you know what's wrong with Jade? She and Megabyte were…" His voice tailed off as he began to think the worse.

Adam nodded in reply to Ami's question. So she and Kevin had felt it as well. "She and Megabyte were what, Kevin?"

"They were going to Roswell today, to look at that UFO centre Jade's been talking about," the young British boy replied.

Adam came to a decision. "Ami, you and Kevin stay with Jade. I'm going to teleport to Roswell to see if I can find Megabyte. If he's been affected by the same thing as Jade, he's going to need some help."

Ami shook her head in protest, dark braids flying in all directions. "Adam, you don't know what's happened. How is walking into the same thing going to help Megabyte?"

"Well, I can't just sit here and do nothing. I'll call for help if I need it, promise. Besides you know me, I can always teleport out if I need to." Adam closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing on the Roswell UFO centre, and Megabyte.

******

Kevin looked at the empty space where Adam had just been and turned to Ami. "Do you think one of us should go after him? I know he said that he can teleport if he needs to, but Megabyte wasn't able to, was he?"

Ami looked at the swirling water outside the observation window of the ship, trying not to sound as worried as she felt, as she replied to the younger boy. "There's no point in all of us running into danger, Kevin," she said, very aware of how much that sounded like something Adam himself would say. "We'll just have to hope that Adam and Megabyte are okay."

She knew that Adam saw himself as the leader of their group, but his tendency to put himself in danger to protect them, without a single thought for his own safety, was beginning to concern her. Someone was going to have to talk to him about sharing responsibility. After all he was only a few years older than herself and Megabyte. It was time he learnt that he didn't have to shoulder all that responsibility on his own. Maybe she could get General Damon to have a talk to him as well. After all he seemed to respect the older man's opinion, more than Megabyte himself did anyway. Mind you, Ami amended to herself, Megabyte's relationship with his father seemed to have improved quite a bit since the events at Cheyenne Mountain.

*************

Adam materialised in what he presumed was the main part of the UFO centre. Looking around, he noticed behind him a display board about the 1947 crash. His eye caught the picture of a weather balloon. He remembered that that had been one of the more popular theories.

Adam closed his eyes and sent a telepathic probe out, hoping to get a sense of the whereabouts of his friend. He caught a sense of something, he wasn't sure what. It was similar to what he had felt from Jade earlier. It had to be Megabyte, but if it was, the other boy must be unconscious.

"Can I help you?"

Adam snapped open his eyes and looked at the man in front of him. Careless! He reprimanded himself. He had been concentrating so hard in finding Megabyte that he had failed to notice someone enter the room. The man repeated his question and Adam decided to play the innocent tourist.

"Sorry," he said. "I was just taking in the wonder of this place. It's really great, isn't it? Better go and join the rest of my group now, before they realise I've been left behind."

The dark haired man drew his weapon, his intention clear. "Hold it right there, kid, or should I call you Adam?"

Adam felt his body stiffen. How would this man know his name? Had Megabyte and Jade walked into something by accident, or had someone been expecting them? But how would anyone know they were coming to Roswell, when they hadn't decided to visit until that morning themselves.

"Don't even think of teleporting, if you want to see your friends again."

"Teleport? I don't know what you're talking about." Adam tried to sound as innocent as possible. "And what makes you think my name is Adam?" Whoever this guy was, it sounded as though he had Megabyte and… Friends? What was he talking about? Megabyte and Jade had been the only Tomorrow People in Roswell, at least that he was aware of.

"Your description and your accent for one. The fact that your friend was probably trying to contact you when I shot him, for another."

"Shot him?" Adam was so taken back by the man's last statement that he forgot about the innocent tourist routine he was supposed to be following. He realised too late that he had probably given himself away with his outburst.

His captor replied by motioning to Adam with his taser gun. "Yeah,don't worry. He's okay, for now. The boss insisted we bring you freaks in alive. Mind you he didn't say undamaged, if you get my drift. Don't try and contact any others of your kind, either. We've been told how to pick when you're using telepathy. If you want to see your friends I suggest you do exactly as I tell you."

Adam nodded to show that he understood. "Okay," he said. "I'll do what you say." 

[Adam! Adam, can you hear me?]

As he heard Ami's voice in his mind, Adam automatically found himself starting to reply. He felt a gun in his ribs, and stopped.

"I thought I warned you about using telepathy. Whoever you are talking to, ignore them. Unless you'd like to invite them to join the party, that is."

Adam nodded, and raised his mental shields, blocking his thoughts so Ami wouldn't be able to contact him. He hoped that she had enough sense to realise that something was very wrong, and that she wouldn't try and teleport here. It looked as though Ami had been right, after all. Adam was beginning to realise that he hadn't been very clever walking straight into the lion's den, as it were.

"Beckett." Adam's captor sounded annoyed as he answered his cellphone. "Well, of course Evans would be starting to come round. You gave him some of the sedative like we were told to? Good, and Hawkins? Sedate the other one as well. I don't feel like taking any chances. By the way, it looks as though we're going to be having some more company on our trip. See you shortly."

"Evans?" asked Adam. This must be the person who had been captured along with Megabyte. "Whoever, he is, he's not one of us. Look you've got two of us, let him go."

"The Colonel warned me you might say something like that. Even though it's obvious now that you're the one the Colonel was after, he's still a loose end. Besides, having an hostage will help to keep you and your friend Damon under control."

"The Colonel?" Adam was beginning to get a really nasty feeling about all this. He hoped this colonel wasn't who he was starting to suspect it might be.

"You'll find out soon enough. Move!" 

*******************

Maria looked at her watch again, "Why do you think they're taking so long?" she asked Liz. "Even if Megabyte and Jade waited for Max to close up, they should be here by now."

She opened the front door of the UFO centre, and gestured for her friend to follow her inside. " Michael and the others will be wondering where we are." Michael, Isabel and Alex had called in at the Crashdown just as the girls' shift had ended, and were going to join them for coffee. If you're going to party, do it properly, Maria had said as she extended the invitation to include them.

Liz opened her mouth in protest. "Maria, we shouldn't…" she started to say, but then changed her mind. Once Maria made her mind up, she was usually hard to discourage from her chosen course of action.

"Come on, Liz. It's time we reminded them how long we've been waiting out here."

Liz frowned. "It's not like Max to forget something like that," she observed. "If he says he's going to be somewhere at a certain time, he usually is. Megabyte and Jade would have told him we were meeting them after work for coffee. I'm sure they would."

Maria poked her head around the main display room and saw a tall dark haired boy standing next to one of the displays. He seemed to be miles away, totally lost in thought.

"Come on Liz," she repeated her earlier statement. "We'll go ask that good looking guy if he's seen them."

Liz smiled to herself. Trust Maria to come out with a statement like that. She was about to enter the room when a thought occurred to her. "What's he doing here after closing?" she asked. "Maria?"

Maria was feeling around in her pockets, first one then the other. "I can't find my keys," she complained. "Mom's car keys are on that ring. She'll kill me if I've lost them." She looked at the boy in the display room, and then back down the corridor towards the front door a few times before coming to a decision.

"Give me a minute while I just go check if I can find them. Keep a look out and don't let that guy out of your sight, okay?"

"Yeah sure, Maria. Don't take too long though." Liz glanced around nervously as she waited for Maria. Even if this guy could tell them where Max was, there was still something not right about the whole situation. She knew Max well enough by now to know he should be there, waiting by the door with their new friends. 

After a few moments Liz walked out into the corridor, gesturing to Maria that she'd been long enough. She glanced at her watch, wondering again what had happened to Max and the others.

"Found them," exclaimed Maria triumphantly, waving her keys at Liz. "I must have dropped them just as we came in. Is that guy still there?"

Liz nodded. She headed back towards the display room and then stopped, gesturing Maria to be quiet. "Did you see that other guy just enter the room?" she hissed, pressing herself against the wall, hoping he hadn't noticed them. "Something strange is going on."

"Weird, weird or alien weird?" interrupted Maria, following Liz's lead and speaking softly.

Liz shrugged. "Weird enough to be worried about where Max is," she replied. "Maria! What are you doing?"

Maria pushed past Liz, edging into the room so that she could see what was going on. In the couple of minutes they had been in the corridor the two men in the display room had started talking. One of them had an accent, Australian by the sound of it.

"If Max is in trouble, don't you think we should try and find out what's going on?' she reasoned. 

Liz peered over Maria's shoulder and stifled a scream. "Maria," she whispered. "He's got a gun!" She grabbed Maria's arm and bundled her behind one of the bigger displays as the shrill ring of a cell phone echoed through the room.

What was going on? She wondered. The middle-aged man had his gun pushed into the younger man's back and was talking into his phone. She strained to hear what he was saying, picking up the end of the conversation.

"…more company on our trip. See you shortly."

Liz noticed the expression on the dark-haired boy's face. He looked scared, though he was obviously trying very hard to hide it from his captor. As she listened to him speak, Liz felt an echo of that fear run through her own mind.

"Evans?" he asked. "Whoever he is, he's not one of us. Look you've got two of us, let him go."

Maria squeezed Liz's arm and she realised the other girl was as scared as she was. She turned to give her a shaky smile, and turned back to catch the tail end of the reply the man gave.

"…keep you and your friend Damon under control."

"The Colonel?" asked the young man.

"You'll find out soon enough." Came the reply. The man gestured with his gun. "Move!"

As the two men started towards the door, Liz saw the younger one look around and then hurriedly try to hide his action. He reminded Liz of an animal picking up a scent. It was almost as though he had sensed we were here she thought, dismissing the crazy idea quickly. 

The older man paused in the doorway, checking to make sure the coast was clear. As he did so, the boy looked straight over at Liz and Maria and their eyes met. He did know we were here Liz thought. But how? His huge brown eyes reflected the fear she felt herself and he subtly shook his head, mouthing the word 'no' at the same time.

"You're not thinking of calling for help, I hope?" asked the other man, waving his gun as though to make his point clear. He had a suspicious look on his face, but luckily didn't seem to realise they had company. 

Liz held her breath and hoped their luck would hold.

The Australian looked at the man and shook his head. "No," he said. "I think you've made it perfectly clear what you'll do if I did." 

"Sensible boy. Come on, I think your friends are waiting for us. The Colonel is very anxious to see you again." He gestured towards the door, and they headed towards the exit of the UFO centre.

Liz and Maria exchanged worried glances as they saw the two men leave. "Liz, did you hear that? They've got Max, we'd better tell Michael and the others."

Liz's mind was racing. What had the young man meant by 'not one of us?' Surely he wasn't talking about aliens? What had happened to Megabyte and Jade? They must have been here when … Her eyes filled with tears as she thought of Max in the hands of this Colonel, whoever he was. If the Colonel and his men found out Max's secret, they could all be in great danger. Her train of thought came to a crashing halt as she realised that Maria was still talking.

"Who do you think that young guy was? What did he mean by 'you have two of us'?

Liz, are you listening to me?" Maria ushered her out of the UFO centre, and they headed back to the Crashdown where they were meant to be meeting Michael, Isabel and Alex. Hopefully if they all put their heads together they would be able to work out what to do next. 

************

Part Four

"Michael they've got Max!" Liz sounded distraught as she and Maria entered the Crashdown.

"Calm down Liz," Alex Whitman offered his friend a seat. "Who's got Max? What's happened?"

"Over at the UFO centre. There was a guy holding a gun on this other Australian guy…" As Maria paused for breath, Michael interrupted her. 

"How do you know the guy was Australian?" he wanted to know. After all it was important to have all the facts wasn't it? He peered out of the window of the Crashdown as he waited for the answer, carefully pulling the blinds to one side. The UFO centre seemed quiet, especially considering what Liz and Maria were telling them. 

"I saw Crocodile Dundee didn't I?" Maria sounded indignant as she replied. "Anyway the guy with the gun said that he had Max and that he'd hurt him if the Australian and his friend didn't… "

"What friend?" asked Isabel. "Why would this man take Max? Do you think he knows who he is?" She sat down on the empty chair next to Liz, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

Michael knew all too well what must be running through Isabel's mind. If whoever had Max found out who or what he was, he didn't want to think about what they might do to him. Better not to think the worst. "Sounds to me as though it might not be Max they were after," he commented. "Is it possible that they want this Australian and his friend whoever they are?"

"Damon," said Maria.

"What?" asked Michael.

"That's the name Beckett used for the friend. Beckett was the man with the gun," explained Maria. "I got the feeling that maybe he and the other bad guy were waiting for them to show at the UFO centre or something."

"And Max was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," reasoned Liz slowly. "After all the Australian said something about Max being 'not one of us.' It struck me as a weird thing to say at the time. I'm not sure what he meant by it exactly." She paused as another thought hit her. "Megabyte and Jade!"

"Who?" Michael wondered just how many strangers were wandering around Roswell today. The number of disappearances also seemed to be rising. Obviously Roswell wasn't as safe as Sheriff Valenti would like to make out it was.

"Maria and I met them at the Crashdown earlier. We were going to meet them at the UFO centre after Max finished. They must have been there when Max was taken. Do you think they might be in trouble too?" Liz was beginning to look upset again.

Michael rose to his feet. It was definitely time for someone to take charge of the situation. "I'm going to go have a look over there," he announced. "We're not going to find out what's happened to Max unless we do."

Isabel stood up and headed for the door. "I'm coming with you. Don't look at me that way Michael. Max is my brother. Besides I can look after myself. You're not the only one around here with powers remember."

Michael shrugged. There was no point even trying to argue with Isabel when she got that look in her eye. He hoped he wasn't going to regret his decision to let her come as he looked out the door and onto the street again. All quiet on the western front or at least in a small New Mexican town.

"Be careful," Maria told him. "We don't know if that guy is still lurking around out there. He looked dangerous you know."

"They'll be fine Maria." Alex tried to reassure her, as he turned and spoke to Michael. "I'll stay here with the girls. They still look pretty shaken up. Besides if Megabyte and Jade show up, there should be someone here in case."

"Yeah okay," Michael waited for Isabel to grab her jacket and then headed for the UFO centre. He stopped just outside the entrance and looked around carefully. It looked quiet enough. Even that idiot Milton didn't seen to be anywhere in sight. Still he didn't feel like taking any chances, at least not where he, Isabel and Max were concerned. He looked again at the small alien figures standing guard in front of the small ticket box. If only Milton knew who he really had working for him. 

As he and Isabel walked along quietly towards the main display room, Michael mulled over the conversation in the Crashdown in his mind, trying to make sense of it all. He deliberately hadn't told the others that he suspected that the person that Beckett had referred to as Damon was probably the young man Liz and Maria knew as Megabyte. It was the only thing he could think of that made sense, but if so who was the Australian guy, and what had he meant by not one of us? At least it didn't sound as though Beckett knew who or what Max was, for now.

It appeared that Maria had been right and it was Megabyte and the Australian that Beckett and his companion had been after. He wondered what they could have done for someone to come after them like that. From what Maria and Liz had said, they had seemed quite normal. But then, he thought to himself, so did he, Isabel and Max.

Michael smiled to himself as he thought of Maria, and how concerned she had been about him coming here. She'd got a lot closer to him than anyone else ever had, though of course he'd never admit that to her.

"This must be where it happened," Isabel interrupted his musings. She looked around, a puzzled look on her face. "Can you feel all the energy in the air, Michael? I've never felt anything like it before, have you?"

Michael shook his head. He bent down and ran his hand over the floor, trying to get a sense of what had gone down in the room. The flash hit him very suddenly and clearly. The air itself seemed to crackle with strong psychic energy. He leant again one of the display boards, trying to steady himself and saw that Isabel was doing the same.

"Did you feel that?" he asked her. "I've had flashes before, but never one that clear. There's definitely something very strange going on here." As she nodded, he remembered what he had seen;

Max being hit by some kind of strange energy weapon, followed by a blond girl, about the same age, disappearing in a bright light. A redheaded young man, slightly older being held at gunpoint and then being shot by the same weapon that had downed Max. Michael then saw another, dark haired boy, maybe a fraction older than the redhead, appear out of thin air in the same sort of flash of light that the girl had vanished in earlier. The same man that had shot Max then appeared and pointed a gun at the Australian. At least Michael presumed this was the same young man whom Maria and Liz had described earlier. It certainly matched the description of what they had said they had witnessed anyway.

Michael put his arms around Isabel. He could feel her shaking. " Don't worry," he said. "We'll get Max back. We have to. Come on, let's head back to the Crashdown. It looks as though we've done all we can do here." 

Well, he thought to himself, it looks as though we know what happened to Jade and Megabyte. He was concerned by what he had seen in the flash though, whoever had Max and the others seemed to be very dangerous, judging by the weaponry they were using. Also he'd never seen anyone disappear into thin air like that before. The thought crossed his mind that maybe he, Isabel and Max weren't alone. Were there other aliens on the planet beside themselves? Maybe if they tried to track down who exactly Megabyte, Jade and their Australian friend were, it might help them to find some answers. Time for Alex to do some more hacking on the net, he decided.

As they crossed the street on their way back to the Crashdown, Michael looked around again for a sign that anything was out of the ordinary. No, things looked quiet enough. It's amazing how deceiving looks can be, he thought.

He opened the door to the Crashdown and was surprised to see two teenagers sitting talking to Liz, Maria and Alex. The boy he hadn't seen before, but the girl he recognised straight away from the flash. 

Michael decided to get straight to the point, as time wasn't exactly on their side. If whoever had Max found out he wasn't exactly human, it wouldn't exactly take them long to figure out there might be others like him. There was no way Michael would let anyone get hold of himself or Isabel, and do to them what were done to the original aliens in the 1947 crash. Nor would he stand by and watch the same thing happen to Max.

***************

Kevin looked up as the door of the Crashdown opened. Two teenagers, a tall blonde girl and a brown haired boy about the same age, walked in. 

The young man marched up to Jade and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Where's Max?" he demanded. "What have you done with him?" His eyes met Jade's and she pulled away. Kevin could sense the anger coming from him, in fact he seemed to be full of it. This was all Jade needed after what she'd been through.

Maria glared at him. "Michael! Try to come across with at least a bit of understanding. She's had an awful fright." 

Jade and Kevin exchanged a very long look before Kevin answered. "Yes, we do know what's happened to Max, and no we don't know who has him. Nice to meet you too, Michael. I'm Kevin, by the way."

Kevin put his hand out to shake Michael's. Might as well be polite, he thought to himself, even if this guy doesn't seem to want to be. As they shook hands, he experienced the same strange flash that Jade had said she and Megabyte had picked up earlier from Max.

"He's like Max!" exclaimed Jade. She put her hand up to her mouth as Kevin looked at her warningly. 

[Use telepathy, Jade. Remember Ami said not to tell them about the Tomorrow People unless we had to.]

"Telepathy? Tomorrow People?" asked Michael, suspiciously.

Kevin tried not very successfully to hide his surprise and then decided not to bother. "You heard what I said? Who are you people?" What had Adam and Megabyte got themselves into, he wondered. He thought about contacting Ami, who had gone to let General Damon know what had happened, but thought against it. Besides, he was a bit dubious about using telepathy until he and Jade worked out exactly how much of their conversation would be overheard.

Michael sounded angry. "I think it's you who owes us an explanation," he said. "Who's got Max, and what's going on here?"

Liz put her arms around Jade, who was looking very upset. "Don't mind Michael," she said. "He's just worried about Max. We all are."

Jade seemed to pull herself together as she glared angrily at Michael. "You're not the only one who's worried about someone, you know. Whoever has Max also has Megabyte, and probably Adam as well. I've already been shot at once today, and barely escaped myself. I'm really not in the mood for your macho crap." With that last statement, she sat down again and stared into her cup of hot chocolate.

Alex inserted himself between the two of them, quickly. "Truce, okay," he said. "Look, it sounds as though you guys have got as much at stake here as we have. I think we should trust each other. Michael?"

Michael nodded, although Kevin could still sense a great deal of suspicion coming from him. He'd be very surprised if they were told any more than Michael felt he had to. Whatever was bugging this guy, it had been doing so for quite some time. There was more than just the disappearance of his friend behind his strong emotions. Wonder what that weird stuff in that flash was? Kevin thought about strengthening his mental shields a bit more for a moment, to try and deaden some of the feelings he was picking up on, but decided against it.

"Jade?" Alex looked at the British girl.

She nodded, and turned to Kevin. "Do you think we can trust them?"

Kevin nodded. Even with what he had been receiving from Michael he still thought that trust was the best way to go in this situation. Besides, he had a suspicion that these people had just as much to hide as the Tomorrow People did. If he were right it would certainly explain all these vibes in the room.

"Do you think we should tell Ami first?" asked Jade.

"Who's this Ami?" asked Michael. The boy wasn't happy with the thought of someone else becoming involved; that much was obvious from the thoughts Kevin could hear running through his mind. "With Max gone I think it's up to me to take charge here and that includes working out what we should do next and who we should include in those plans."

Jade interjected before Michael could add anything else. She sounded annoyed, and Kevin didn't blame her. "If anyone should be making decisions here it should be Kevin, at least until Ami gets here."

"Like I'm going to take orders from some kid," Michael replied angrily. "No way."

Kevin sighed. The fact that he was a good inch or so taller than the other boy hadn't even come into the equation. "Hello, do I look like a kid?" he asked Michael. "I'm eighteen." He noticed the annoyed tone creeping into his own voice and smiled to himself. Good. Even though they needed to work together, Michael was fast starting to get up his nose. It was probably a good thing Megabyte wasn't here. He and Michael would be at each other's throats by now, of that Kevin was sure.

"You don't look it," Michael muttered. "Still doesn't mean you're going to take over."

Liz spoke before Kevin could think of a suitable reply, saving him the problem of how to avoid an argument with the younger boy. Couldn't the guy see they had enough problems without fighting amongst themselves?

"I've just remembered something I overheard at the UFO centre. The Australian guy, Adam, said something that I couldn't make sense of at the time. He said you've already got two of us." She turned to Jade and Kevin. "He was referring to himself and Megabyte, wasn't he? They're like you, whatever that means. The man who took him mentioned some Colonel, as well. Do you know anything about that?"

All of the colour drained from Kevin's face, as he put two and two together. It couldn't be, could it? If it was, then Adam, Megabyte and Max were in really big, big trouble.

"Kevin, what's wrong?"

"I think we should contact Ami. If this Colonel is who I think he is, none of us are safe."

Jade caught a trace of Kevin's thoughts as he spoke, and shuddered. [Ami?] she 'pathed, focusing her mind on the older girl.

[Yes, Jade, what is it?] Ami's telepathic voice sounded worried, very worried. [I'm just heading over to meet General Damon at the hospital. Millie's been involved in an accident.] Millie was Megabyte's younger sister. Kevin felt sorry for Ami, having to tell the General that not only was his daughter in hospital, but his son was missing as well. No wonder she sounded so worried.

Kevin interrupted the conversation. [Don't worry, Ami, we'll talk to you later, when we're a bit more sure about what's going on.] After listening to what she had told Jade, he'd decided that he and Jade could sort this problem out by themselves. No point in worrying her about their suspicions until they had proof.

[Are you sure, Kevin?]

[Sure, contact us later, when you've talked to Megabyte's dad, okay.]

[Okay. I'll get back to you when I've checked on things here in London.] 

Michael and Isabel exchanged glances as Ami broke the link. Judging by Isabel's expression she too had picked up the telepathic conversation. There was something about those two, but Kevin wasn't sure what. If Michael and maybe Isabel were telepathic, why then couldn't he pick up on them using it themselves. Unless of course, their telepathy was only limited. Maybe they could pick up, but couldn't broadcast. It was the only thing that made sense.

Obviously Michael didn't trust them enough to let them know that Isabel and he were the same, whatever that was. Kevin decided to keep his suspicions to himself, for the moment. No need to get the other boy even more on edge than he already was.

Kevin cleared his throat. Explanation time, he thought, hoping the trust they were going to put in this group wasn't misplaced. Hopefully if the Roswell teens saw how much trust the Tomorrow People were placing in them, they might be persuaded to share their secrets too.

*********

Part Five

Ami entered the busy London hospital and looked around for directions to the casualty department. Frank, General Damon's aide, had told her that this was the hospital that Millie had been taken to. Hopefully it would be fairly straightforward to track her down, though Ami still wasn't sure how she was going to tell the General what had happened to Megabyte and Adam.

The receptionist glanced up at her, and Ami noticed the name tag she was wearing on her floral blouse. Teresa Cording was probably used to seeing worried people she decided. She must have seen enough of them during her time as receptionist in the casualty department.

"Can I help you, miss?"

"I'm looking for a friend who was brought in earlier by the paramedics. Her name is Damon, Millicent Damon."

Teresa keyed the name into her computer and waited for the details to come up. "Yes, here it is. Take a seat and I'll see what I can find out for you. Do you want me to tell the family you're here?"

"Yes, please. My name is Ami. I need to get a message to Millie's father. It's rather urgent."

As she sat down, Ami looked around the waiting area. The hospital seemed very busy. There was a group of kids with various degrees of scrapes and bruises sitting in the chairs behind her. They were dressed in soccer uniforms and it looked as though they'd had a very enthusiastic game judging by the state of them. Behind them sat a young girl, holding her arm in pain, leaning against an older woman. Probably her mother, Ami surmised.

"Ami?"

Ami turned to see a young blond man dressed in blue nurses' uniform. She'd been so deep in thought she hadn't even noticed him approach. She nodded.

"Hi, I'm Steve. I've been looking after Millicent Damon." He continued hastily, noticing Ami's reaction. "Don't worry, she's going to be fine. Her father asked if you could wait in the relatives' room for him. He seems really pleased that you've come. Follow me and I'll show you the way."

As Steve showed her into the room, Ami recognised the gangly teenager waiting inside immediately. She nodded her thanks to the nurse and turned to the boy seated on the chair in front of her.

"Geoff, what are you doing here?" 

Geoff Anderson looked up at her, relief flooding his features. "At last, someone to talk to. All this waiting is driving me insane" He looked behind her, almost as though he was waiting for someone else to walk through the door. His face dropped slightly as he realised she was alone. "Ami, I thought you must have come with Megabyte. Isn't he here with you? Don't you know what's happened?" 

Ami shook her head, in answer to both questions. "I went to WorldEx to find General Damon, and Frank told me that Millie had been in an accident." As she looked closer at Millie's boyfriend, Ami noticed he had a bandage around his hand, and dried blood through his sandy brown hair.

"Yeah. Some idiot tried to run her down. Luckily I noticed the car in time and managed to get her out of the way just before it hit. We hit the ground pretty hard though, as you can see." Ami could hear the anger in Geoff's voice as he continued. " Now that I think of it, the car had been following us for a couple of blocks. When Millie went to cross the road, the driver deliberately accelerated. It wasn't an accident!"

********

"Are you sure about that Geoff?" Both young people turned at the sound of a male voice with a strong American accent. General William Damon, Megabyte and Millie's father stood framed in the doorway.

Geoff nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure. It's not every day that you see someone try to run down your girlfriend. If I ever get hold of the…" His voice tailed off, as he tried to control his feelings. 

Bill Damon decided to change the subject quickly. He didn't really need another teenager looking for trouble. He'd had enough of that with his son and his friends to last him a lifetime. "Ami, am I glad to see you. I've been trying to contact Megabyte on his cell phone for hours. Finally got an answer about an hour ago, and it turns out to be Penny Weston. Apparently Megabyte left the phone there when he picked up Jade this morning." 

Bill noticed the look on Ami's face as he spoke and his heart sank. Surely Marmaduke wasn't in trouble again. He was beginning to think the Tomorrow People should just paint bullseyes on their backs and hang a sign saying 'I'm a TP, come and get me.' Obviously the talk he'd had with his son and Adam after the episode at Cheyenne Mountain had been totally ignored, as usual.

"How's Millie?" Ami's question shook him out of his reverie.

"The doctor thinks she may have a broken arm, but apart from that she's fine. Just a bit shook up. We're waiting for the x-rays to come back before the doctors do anything further treatment wise. Millie's a very lucky young lady. It sounds as though you might have saved her life, Geoff. Thanks, I owe you one."

"When can I see her?" asked Geoff.

"She's with her mother now, in one of the cubicles. I'm sure if you ask one of the nurses, they'll let you see her while they wait for the results."

Bill breathed a sigh of relief as the teenager left the room. He had a feeling that whatever Ami had to say it wasn't something that Geoff should know about. The fewer people who knew about the kids' special powers the better, especially with the fact that the list of people who were aware of the Tomorrow People seemed to grow longer each day. 

"So," he demanded. "Where's Megabyte? I know he's out with Jade, but Penny hasn't seen either of them since this morning. She sounded very worried when I spoke to her, and frankly so am I."

Ami hesitated before replying and Bill felt himself groan inwardly. He'd known her long enough to know that bad news was coming. Why did he have this nasty suspicion it was to do with his son…again. He ran his hand through his dark hair. He was amazed he had any hair left after some of the more recent exploits of his son and his friends. "Go on Ami, I've already thought the worst."

"Megabyte's been kidnapped. We're not sure who has him, but they took someone else as well. A boy called Max, he works at the UFO centre in Roswell."

"Roswell, as in Roswell, New Mexico?" Bill didn't even want to know what his son was doing visiting a UFO centre, especially in that town. Why did it have to be that town, of all places. He noticed that Ami wasn't finished. "Okay," he groaned. "What else? No, don't tell me. Adam went looking for him and has disappeared as well."

Ami stared at him with wide eyes. "How did you know?" she asked.

"Let's just say I've know Adam long enough to know his habits by now." And long enough to know he isn't going to change those habits either, Bill thought.

Bill sighed, trying to stay focused and keep all the thoughts on who might have Adam and Megabyte out of his mind. "Okay, Ami. I need you to sit down and tell me everything you know about what happened, everything." Another thought occurred to him. "Is Jade okay? Penny said she was spending the day with Megabyte. How come whoever has Megabyte, Adam and this Max didn't manage to grab her?"

"She teleported."

"In front of the kidnappers? So, in other words, they probably now know they're dealing with kids who can teleport."  
  
"Megabyte told her to teleport. Besides she didn't really have a choice. They had fired at her with some sort of weapon." She thought for a moment before continuing. "Jade said it was like those taser weapons she and Megabyte saw in an episode of Buffy last month."

"Buffy?"

"The Vampire Slayer. Anyway, the weapons fired some sort of electrical current. That's what the one that hit Megabyte felt like anyway."

This story was getting more worrying by the minute, thought Bill. "Megabyte's been hit by a taser weapon? But how would you know, no forget that question, I wasn't thinking." He stopped, and suddenly paled. "Oh, hell." 

"General Damon, what's wrong?" asked Ami, concern showing in her voice as she spoke. 

"Don't you see, Ami? Why would anyone use a taser weapon against ordinary teenagers in the first place? It sounds to me as though they must have known about you kids being able to teleport. In fact I'm starting to wonder if whoever has Megabyte and Adam knows about the Tomorrow People." He thought for a moment and then added, " This Max who works at the UFO centre, what does he look like?"

"Tall, dark hair, dark eyes…" Ami's voice tailed off as she realised who else she knew who fit that description. "You mean, they thought Max was Adam? But why?"

"I received a file on my desk, a couple of months back. It was to do with a WorldEx investigation, one that I was trying to look into, discretely, of course. I hadn't mentioned it to Adam yet, as I didn't have anything concrete. A while back in Roswell, there were reports of a boy healing a waitress, a boy with dark hair. The boy's name was Evans. I knew it wasn't Adam, even though the description of the boy was similar, but anyone else who knew about the Tomorrow People might have put two and two together and come up with six."

"Max's last name is Evans," added Ami, confirming what Bill had already worked out for himself. "You mean these people deliberately went after Max because they thought he was Adam? Do you think that when they saw Megabyte they must have recognised him? Then when Adam…" Ami realised something. "General, Kevin and Jade are in Roswell now. I'd better warn them"

As Bill watched her eyes glaze over, he knew she was initiating telepathic contact with Kevin and Jade. To his surprise she opened them again, brown eyes meeting his own as she asked another question, concern showing both in her voice and the worried look she gave him. "Do you have any idea who might have Adam and Megabyte? Who would know enough about the Tomorrow People to deliberately go after us like that?"

Bill knew the expression on his face was as grim as the thoughts going through his mind as he replied. "I'm afraid I've got a very fair idea of who it might be, Ami. I'm just hoping I'm wrong." He remembered a very worrying report he had received a couple of days ago, a report he now wished he'd shared with the Tomorrow People, and then to what Geoff had said as well. Surely the fact that Millie had been involved in a deliberate accident at the same time her brother had disappeared was a coincidence wasn't it? Wasn't it? Bill sat down on the spare chair in the relatives' room, and tried not to think about what could be happening to Megabyte and Adam. He felt sorry for this Max kid, whatever was going down, it sounded as though Max Evans was now well and truly part of it as well.

*********************

Part Six

As Beckett ushered Adam down the long hallway, the Australian tried again to contact Megabyte. He hoped that as he had his back to the man, Beckett wouldn't be able to notice the telepathy. Adam could sense that Megabyte was nearby, but couldn't raise a reply. Megabyte was definitely unconscious. Drugged, judging from the conversation he had overheard earlier.

Adam was careful not to drop his mental shields too far. He didn't want the other Tomorrow People in the same situation that he, Megabyte and whoever this Max was, were in. He had felt Ami try to initiate contact with him a number of times since leaving the UFO Centre but had managed to block her. 

Beckett opened the door to what looked like some sort of office and shoved Adam, not too gently, through. A man was sitting at the desk, talking on the phone. His back was to Adam, and the Tomorrow Person could only just hear what was being said.

"Yes, I've sent the information a short time ago, Trent. It should be in your inbox now. Yes, I've received what you sent me as well. As far as I can tell our problems don't look as dissimilar as I first thought. I can see our arrangement is going to work out very satisfactory for both of us." The man paused for a moment before continuing. "Yes, I'm sure we can keep to the same arrangement I enjoyed with your predecessor. Remember if you need any help dealing with the man responsible for his death, you know where to come."

The man spun round in his chair, a cruel smile lighting up his mouth, as he noticed Adam. "Trent, my delivery has arrived. I will contact you after I have tested the next phrase. Goodbye." 

Adam felt the colour drain from his face as he recognised the man sitting at the desk. It was a man he had hoped none of the Tomorrow People would ever see again. 

"Well, Adam, we meet again. How many years has it been? Seven?" He's trying to gauge my reaction to seeing him again, the Australian realised, knowing full well that he wasn't hiding his shock as well as he should have been able to. 

"Not long enough, obviously."

"Now Adam, is that a very nice way to greet an old friend? I suggest for your own good, and the good of your friends, that you try and keep things civil. It's never a good idea to upset someone who has the power of life and death over you."

Adam bit his lip, and tried to control himself before replying. "Where's Megabyte?" he demanded. "What do you want with Max? As I told one of your men, he's not a Tomorrow Person. You've got no reason to hold him. Let him go."

Masters laughed, sending a shiver down Adam's spine. "I see you haven't changed young man," he said. "I seem to remember you saying the same thing about your friend, Megabyte, when we first met. Let him go he's not one of us, you said. And what happens? The brat holds a gun on me, and then teleports his father away before I can have the satisfaction of killing him. No, I haven't forgotten what happened last time we met. In fact I've been looking forward to meeting both of you again for some time."

Adam sat down in the chair Beckett pushed him into, and tried to compose himself. He was feeling scared, both for himself, and for the other Tomorrow People. He wondered if he dared to contact Ami and the others, but then thought against it. Better not to take the chance. At the moment he'd concentrate on finding where Megabyte and Max were being held. Hopefully Megabyte wouldn't be feeling the effect of the drugs for too much longer, and then they could teleport out of here, taking Max with them.

"Okay," he said slowly. "Obviously you don't want to believe me about Max, but it's true. He's not a Tomorrow Person. What are you planning to do with us, anyway?"

"Let's just call it an experiment, one that I have been working on for sometime. You're very privileged, you and your friends, you know." Masters paused for a moment. "How many of you teleporters are there now, by the way? Beckett here reported a young blond girl teleporting at the UFO centre. I'd like to also give my regards to Lisa, and that young British boy. Wasn't his name Kevin?"

" I haven't seen Lisa for quite a few years," replied Adam honestly. After her mother had been kidnapped and threatened by Masters, Lisa had severed all contact with the other Tomorrow People. She had blamed herself for what had almost happened to her mother and was scared that next time she might not be so lucky. Adam had gone to her home to talk to her a few months later and found both Lisa and her mother gone. The neighbours had no idea where they were, but thought it might be somewhere overseas. All attempts made to find her had come up with nothing, and she ignored all telepathic communications as well. After a few months, Adam, Megabyte and Kevin had decided to respect her wishes and gave up trying. Kevin, in particular had been very upset by Lisa's decision, as he had really connected with the older girl.

"What about the others?" asked Masters. "Who was that blond girl? I don't remember seeing her before."

Adam sat back in his chair, saying nothing. There was no way he was going to betray his friends. Mentioning Lisa had been different altogether, if the Tomorrow People couldn't find her, he doubted that Masters would have any more luck. Wherever Lisa was, at least she was safe, which was more than he could say for himself at the moment.

Masters glared at Adam, "Still the determined one, I see. We'll discuss the rest of the teleporters later, when you've had time to realise the futility of your silence." He walked around the side of his desk so that he was staring straight into Adam's eyes, as he spoke. 

Masters glanced at his watch. "We'd better fit the devices while there's still enough sedative in their system to stop them teleporting. Tell Doctor Brooke-Smythe to meet us in the laboratory." The last statement was directed at Beckett who nodded and headed out the door.

"What devices?" asked Adam, not sure he really wanted to hear the answer. Part of him wanted to teleport away right now, the other part needed to find Megabyte and Max first. Besides Adam couldn't just leave Megabyte and Max in Masters' hands. He couldn't just look after his own welfare, put himself first. As a Tomorrow Person he really didn't have that option.

Masters chuckled. "You'll find out soon enough…"

*********

Kevin paused as he heard Ami's voice in his mind. [So General Damon thinks Millie's accident wasn't an accident?] he asked telepathically.

[It gets worse,] continued Ami. [He also has a theory that whoever has Adam and Megabyte took Max because they though he was Adam. Apparently a report came into WorldEx about a boy healing someone by placing his hand on her.]

[Max healed someone using some sort of psychic power?] asked Jade. [That would explain the vibes Megabyte and I got when we first met him.]

Isabel and Michael looked at each other, and Michael laid a warning hand on Jade's shoulder. "Who are you talking to?" he demanded. " Did you say *General * Damon? I thought you said you people are peaceful. What are you doing confiding in the military?" He stepped back and raised his hand, acting almost as though it was some kind of weapon.

[Talk to you later, Ami] said Kevin. [I think we've got a problem here. Come to Roswell when you've finished talking to the General.]

[Is everything okay, Kevin?] Ami wondered what he meant by a problem.

[Yeah, don't worry. Just got to explain a few more things, I think.] Kevin reassured her.

[I'll be with you shortly. I just want to say hello to Millie, and pop in to pick up Megabyte's cellphone from Jade's Mum. General Damon wants me to take it in case he wants to contact us.]

[ I forgot about Mum,] remembered Jade. [Tell her I'm okay, and I'll talk to her later.] Jade knew what would happen if she popped home to see her mum now. There was no way that Penny Weston would let her come back to Roswell. She was pleased it was Ami going to pick up the phone and not her.

Michael interrupted again. "Are you people listening to a word I'm saying?" he asked, starting to lose patience.

"Hold it a minute, Michael. It sounds as though they might have some more information about Max." Isabel sounded as though she was prepared to listen to what Kevin had to say, which was more than Jade could say for Michael. She decided she liked Isabel. Michael she wasn't too sure of still. He seemed to think the whole world was out to get him for some strange reason. Jade shrugged. That was his problem, not hers. As long as he was prepared to help them get Megabyte and Adam back, he could be as strange as he liked.

"Thanks, Isabel." Kevin paused before continuing, almost as though he wasn't sure of the right words to use. "Michael, you're not like us, are you? I mean you seem to be able to hear some of our conversation, but I get the impression you can't hear all of it. A bit like a one sided phone call." His question took Jade completely by surprise. What on earth was Kevin talking about?

Maria dug her elbow into Liz, and dived straight into the conversation. She looked very annoyed, to say the least. Obviously she'd had plenty of dealings with Michael and his rather tactful ways before. Or maybe her look was due to the fact she wasn't prepared to sit and listen to Kevin try and explain things? Jade wasn't really sure. All she knew was as she waited for the blonde girl to speak; she was starting to feel annoyed herself. All this talk wasn't exactly helping Megabyte and the others was it? At least it seemed as though someone else here was beginning to feel the same way she was.

"Okay, we could spend all day here working out the difference between you Future People and aliens, but I get the impression Max, Megabyte and Adam would like us to rescue them sooner rather than later"

Jade nearly choked on her hot chocolate. This wasn't exactly what she had been expecting Maria to come out with. She put her cup down and waited to see what else was coming because it certainly didn't sound as though the girl was finished, not by a long way. In fact she sounded as though she was only getting started.

"Isn't that right, Liz? Alex? Also could you guys stop using telepathy or whatever as it's really rude for us mere humans who can't hear any of it." Maria stood there glaring at both Michael and Kevin, trying to pretend she couldn't see the filthy looks her friend was giving her.

"Aliens? Yeah right." Jade tried to keep the amazement out of her voice. "Where are the green glowing eyes and the dark glasses?" She remembered what Adam and Megabyte had told her about their experience at Cheyenne Mountain and blushed. "Oh, okay a different kind of alien then…" Jade decided to get straight to the point. "Michael, are you an alien? Is that what Maria's trying to say?" It would certainly be an explanation as to why he seemed to be able to overhear their telepathic conversation.

"Gee thanks, Maria," said Michael, with a sarcastic tone that would have made Megabyte proud. "Feed them the whole alien story why don't you? Don't you think we've got enough problems without you putting that nonsense into their heads?"

"So are you an alien,Michael?" Kevin repeated Jade's question.

"If you want to believe that I'm some kind of alien, that's your problem, not mine."

"You must admit, Maria has got a point," said Liz. She sounded worried. Maybe she was as concerned about Max as Jade herself was about Megabyte…and Adam. "About the sooner rather than later thing I mean. I think the guys need our help now. The more time we waste talking, the more things could be happening to them."

Jade opened her mouth to add something to the conversation when she felt a sharp pain in her arm. Judging from what she was picking up from Kevin, so had he.

"What's wrong?" Michael sounded concerned.

"I felt a prick in my arm, like a needle," explained Jade. "Kevin?"

The British boy nodded. "So did I. Must be Adam or Megabyte. Maybe we should try and contact them again. Do you feel up to a mind-merge?"

Jade nodded. She still felt a bit shaky physically after her exposure to the taser weapon, but it hadn't seemed to have affected her telepathic abilities at all.

Kevin turned to Isabel and Michael, an idea forming. "Hey I know you guys have some psychic ability, maybe if you joined in the mind-merge, we might stand a better chance of reaching them."

"I don't have any psychic powers, and I'm not alien, I've already told you that," snapped Michael.

Jade gave Kevin a questioning look, wondering why he asked Isabel to join the mind-merge with them. After all Michael was the only alien here wasn't he? Did he think the girl had psychic powers, was that it? She noticed no one else in the room seemed to have noticed his slip, and made a mental note to ask him about it later. 

Isabel nodded. "Look Michael, what harm can it do? I'm not sure I can help but I'll join in the link as well if that's okay with you. After all Max is my brother."

Michael looked hesitant. He still doesn't trust us, Jade realised. Mind you, if the situation were reversed would you? Maybe that whole alien story was true even though he had denied it emphatically? After all he seemed to be reacting to the idea of General Damon being involved as though he had certainly something to hide. As Michael turned away from Kevin his gaze met Maria's. 

"Come on Michael, this is Max's life we're talking about here. Somewhere along the line you've got to learn to trust someone. I'm sure if the situation were reversed, Max would do it for you." As Maria spoke, Michael's intentions seemed to visibly waver.

Michael thought for a moment and then seemed to reconsider, though it was obvious he was still reluctant by the tone in his voice. "Okay," he said. "I'm in. I'm warning you though, the first sign of something screwy and I'm out of here. Fast."

***********

Part Seven

Megabyte felt as though he was trying to climb out of a thick mental fog. As he forced his eyes open, he felt the sharp prick of a needle slide into his arm.

"Hey that hurts," he protested weakly, trying to move his arm away from the man leaning over him.

"Stop moving, or it will hurt even more." Doctor Brooke-Smythe spoke with a clipped British accent. "We need blood samples taken before we fit the device."

"It's A positive. Can you stop now?"

Megabyte tried to sit up and found that he seemed to be strapped securely onto some sort of trolley. His eyes began to focus more clearly as he looked around in a panic. The British man leaning over him seemed to be in his early fifties and was tall and thin, with grey hair and a moustache.

To the side of him the redhead could see Max, the teenager he and Jade had met at the UFO centre in Roswell. Jade, where was Jade? Megabyte looked around and couldn't see the young British girl anywhere. His gaze settled back on Max who was staring at the needle in undisguised horror.

Brooke-Smythe smiled. The guy was enjoying inflicting his own weird brand of torture judging by that sick grin. "Don't worry, young man, you're next." He nodded towards a blond man, whom Megabyte remembered seeing in the UFO centre, as he carefully finished placed the blood samples into a test tube rack.

Hawkins moved towards Max as the boy started to struggle against the restraints, and drew his weapon. "Didn't you hear what Doctor Brooke-Smythe said to your friend? Stop struggling! I don't want to have to shoot you again." Max winced as Brooke-Smythe slid the needle into his arm. This guy certainly needed some lessons on how to take blood. Someone also needed to tell him about the whole bedside manner thing.

As he watched Max's reaction to Brooke-Smythe's vampire imitation, Megabyte tried to fight the fear he could feel rising within him. Get a grip. Losing it isn't going to help anyone, least of all yourself. At least they only have you. The other Tomorrow People were still free. Maybe Jade made it to the ship. Help could be on the way even now.

The frosted glass doors to the laboratory swung open as a voice called out in an authoritative tone, "No, don't use the weapon. I want to make sure they are conscious when the device is fitted."

Megabyte looked towards the owner of the voice, his feelings of panic multiplying as he recognised the speaker all too well. Yeah, the man still looked the same as ever. He'd never been able to get that face out of his head, the guy still had the same look in his dark eyes, that look that betrayed his ruthlessness and total lack of decency. "Colonel Masters…" he started to say, and then stopped as he heard a familiar voice in his mind.

[Megabyte, are you okay? Can you teleport?] Adam's telepathic voice sounded very urgent, and extremely worried. Megabyte looked up and saw his friend being escorted through the door by one of Masters' goons.

"I thought I warned you about using telepathy," hissed Beckett, as he pushed the Australian sprawling towards his fellow Tomorrow Person.

[Adam, are you okay?] What was Adam doing here? What the hell was Masters up to? 

Megabyte noticed Max look at Adam and then back again at Masters, a look of surprise briefly cross his features. Weird. It was almost as though Max had reacted because he'd overheard the telepathy. That wasn't possible. Megabyte tried to process all the information running around frantically in his brain, then decided to give up. Wait till whatever they gave you wears off. You're not functioning on warp drive yet. Get yourself past impulse first.

Masters gestured towards the two Tomorrow People. "You heard what the man said. Use speech please. At this point in time it might pay you not to rely on your so-called special powers too much. If this experiment is a success, you're not going to be able to use them for much longer anyway."

Not going to be able to use them much longer? What had Masters meant by that comment exactly? Megabyte didn't feel like sticking around to find out. This guy was seriously up to no good and he had the sneaking suspicion that he and Adam weren't going to enjoy whatever it was the creep had in mind.

Adam repeated his earlier question, [Megabyte, can you teleport?]

Megabyte shook his head, before he thought about what he was doing. [I don't think so,] he 'pathed back. [My head's too fuzzy from whatever they zapped me with. I don't think I could concentrate enough. I'm having enough trouble with telepathy at the moment.]

Adam gasped as he doubled over from the effect of the gun butt hitting him in the stomach.

"Adam!" Megabyte glared at Beckett, as he felt the waves of pain coming from his friend. "What did you do that for?"

"Now, come on Megabyte," answered Masters in a silky tone that made the young American really wish that there were exceptions to the Tomorrow People couldn't kill rule. "Don't act dumb. I know you and your Australian friend were talking telepathically after you were warned not to. While you are my guest, you need to learn to follow my rules. After all we wouldn't want to have to damage the merchandise, so to speak."

Adam pulled himself to his feet. "Is that what we are to you, merchandise?"

"I believe that is what I just said wasn't it? You should feel privileged, having the opportunity to help your kind save mankind from the curse you have brought upon it. If this treatment works, we will be able to use it to help others as well."

Adam frowned, his brow creasing as he looked at Megabyte, and then at Max. Their options seemed to be running out really fast. From what Masters had said they had better get out of this place while they still had the powers to do so. His eyes met Megabyte's, and the redhead could sense the unspoken question running through his friend's mind almost as clearly as if Adam had used telepathy to ask it.

[Teleport, Adam. Grab Max and teleport. Worry about me later.] Megabyte decided it was time to take action, at least as much action as they could under the circumstances.

Masters snorted in disgust, and gestured to Beckett and Hawkins, who grabbed Adam, restraining him on the vacant bed between his two friends. He then marched over to Megabyte and slapped him over the face, hard.

Megabyte felt his face grow hot, and opened his mouth to retort. As Masters started speaking he closed it again quickly, his feelings of panic quickly being replaced by those of anger. Shut up before you say something you or Adam will regret later.

"I can see you have a problem with following orders, Marmaduke. Maybe we need to invite Millicent to join our little party. Maybe her presence would be enough to encourage you to do as you are told."

Masters kept a close eye on Adam as he continued. "Adam, don't even think of teleporting. You only have time to grab one of your friends and I will have no hesitation in killing or severely injuring the other one. I know neither one of them is capable of teleporting themselves at the moment. There is enough of the drug still in their bloodstream to prevent their escape."

Megabyte was finding it harder to control the growing anger within him. Get a grip. If you lose it now Masters has won. "You leave Millie out of this. This is nothing to do with her. I'll cooperate, just leave her alone." He sent a look of apology to Adam. It was bad enough that his father was mixed up in the Tomorrow People's affairs. There was no way he was going to let his sister put her life at risk as well.

Megabyte still remembered the day Millie had found out about his special powers. He'd been out late with Kevin and had teleported into his bedroom, hoping that he could avoid his father and the usual lectures that accompanied his coming home at all hours of the night. To the redhead's surprise, Millie had been passing by his open bedroom door and had seen him teleporting.

Trying to convince his sister that she had been seeing things had so not been the way to go. 

Once she had got over her initial shock he'd told her about the Tomorrow People, and made her promise not to tell anyone about them. She'd agreed but still tended to use the information to talk him into doing favours for her. Of course Megabyte would have done those favours for her anyway, but there was no way he would ever tell her that. Millie had formed a close friendship with Jade, after the two girls had met, as well. They seemed to have a lot in common, teasing Millie's older brother being one of them.

"Whether I leave her alone totally depends on you doesn't it? Of course she's in safe hands at the moment, being in the hospital. Really close shave with that car you know. If it hadn't been for her boyfriend, things could have been a lot worse."

Megabyte swallowed hard as Masters continued. What did the man mean by hospital? What had happened to Millie and Geoff? The young man tried hard not to let his feelings show. There was no way he was going to give that madman the satisfaction of seeing his concern.

"Of course, I wouldn't have needed to use Millicent to send a message to your father, if I'd known you were going to appear in Roswell. I'd love to see the expression on General Damon's face when he realises you are missing…" As the man stopped and laughed, a cold chill crept through both the Tomorrow People. 

*********** 

Max listened to the conversation between Megabyte and Masters in growing horror. Whoever this man was, there was no love lost between himself, Megabyte and Adam.

He felt his head clear, and realised that the drug given earlier was no longer affecting him. Maybe it was because of his different physiology. According to Masters' timetable, it shouldn't have worn off yet, for otherwise the man would have fitted these devices he had mentioned earlier.

Coming to a decision, Max concentrated on the straps keeping him on the trolley bed, feeling them loosen as he did so. Someone had to stop this Masters before he hurt anyone else, and once Brooke-Smythe analysed the blood taken earlier, the fact that he wasn't exactly human was going to be out in the open, anyway. Max had nothing to lose and everything to hide. Adam and Megabyte seemed to have some sort of powers, maybe with any luck, Masters might presume that whatever Max did were a different manifestation of those same powers.

As Max threw himself off the bed, Beckett spun around and fired his taser weapon towards the young alien. Acting on an instinct he didn't know he possessed Max raised his hand as he had seen Michael do, to protect himself. Immediately a form of force wall came into being in front of him. The wall seemed to be made up of pure energy, and Max stared at it in amazement. Didn't know I could do that. I wonder what other things we're capable of that we don't know yet?

"Cool!" exclaimed Megabyte. He watched Max for a moment and then spoke to his friend. Max could hear the urgency in his voice. "Teleport, Adam. Go now while you can." 

As he spoke Megabyte closed his eyes in concentration for a moment. The air around the redhead crackled, he faded out and then solidified again. Megabyte looked around, noticing the teleport hadn't worked and glanced again at Max. The unspoken question was clear. Megabyte couldn't work out why his powers still weren't working properly. After all if Max could project a force wall, why couldn't he teleport?

Max glanced behind him wondering what to do next, and noticed the glass vials with the blood samples sitting on a table. Max edged back, keeping the force wall in front of him, and waved his other hand over the test tubes. That should keep them guessing for a bit longer. The young alien looked up to see what he could do to help his companions, and noticed that the force wall seemed to be losing its integrity. Obviously splitting his concentration to change the molecular structure of the contents of the test tubes had been enough to weaken it. Maybe when he had had a chance to experiment with this new power, he'd be able to solve that problem, but now wasn't exactly the time to think about it.

Max dived behind the big wooden table and yelled out to Adam. "Go, get your friend and get out of here. I can look after myself."

Adam shook himself out of the shock of seeing Max's powers in action and teleported out of his restraints. He appeared close to Megabyte, readying himself to teleport his friend out. He'd noticed Megabyte teleport minutes before, only to reappear again. His friend's powers were nearly back to full strength, but he was clearly too weakened by the effects of the drugs to initiate a teleport properly.

Masters, on seeing Megabyte's teleportation attempt, held the redhead down on the trolley and cocked the gun, pushing the barrel against the boy's head. "Do you really think you can teleport faster than a bullet?" he asked Adam.

Adam shook his head, moving away from his friend as his eyes glazing over momentarily. [Did you hear that Megabyte? I could have sworn I heard Kevin. Maybe he and the others are trying to contact us?] The Australian turned his head away from Masters as he 'spoke.' He's making sure the man can't see him using telepathy, Max surmised. 

The Australian closed his eyes, ready to obviously send a reply to whomever he had heard, as Hawkins and Beckett grabbed him from behind. Adam struggled but he didn't dare teleport, not with Masters holding a gun on Megabyte. 

Brooke-Smythe fitted some sort of metallic band around Adam's head. He swooned, 

then collapsed on the floor screaming, clutching his head in pain.

"You psycho! What have to done to him?" Megabyte looked at Adam and seemed to concentrate just as a similar device slide onto his own head. Must be trying to reach his friend, Max reasoned. As Max watched the redhead let out a gasp of pain. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell back on the trolley, unconscious. 

Max automatically stepped forward to help, when he felt the barrel of a gun in the small of his back. He'd been so busy watching Adam and Megabyte that he'd forgotten about the failing force field and the danger he himself was in. It looked as though his options had suddenly become non-existent again. As he struggled against the two men bringing him over to Masters, Max really hoped his now unconscious companions had been able to tell whoever they had been talking to what was going on.

Masters surveyed the two unconscious young people before him and directed his next statement at Max. The man's eyes were cold and he spoke with an air of calmness. "As you can see the device can be quite hazardous to your health if you attempt to use any psychic abilities while you are wearing it." 

Max felt a chill climbing up his spine. This man was dangerous, very dangerous. He prayed that Adam and Megabyte were okay. What had that headband done to them? He felt a pressure on his head as realised that Brooke-Smythe was fitting one to him also. Max gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to run. He felt himself struggle against the guards, but knew he was wasting his time. Whatever this Masters had in mind, it seemed he was now as much a part of it as Megabyte and Adam. He could see the man watching him, waiting for a reaction. Well he's not going to get one. Of that Max was determined. At least he doesn't know who I am, at least he doesn't know who I am. The phrase repeated itself over and over in his mind, almost like a mantra. He looked Masters in the eye, and then turned away. That man was so full of hate, most of it directed towards the two still forms in front of him. What on earth had happened between them?

Masters was silent for a moment and then added, almost as an afterthought. "Oh, and I wouldn't bother trying to remove the one on your own head either. You'll only cause yourself a considerable amount of pain."

Masters gestured to his men to take the three young people away, and turned to Brooke-Smythe. "Well, it looks as though you got that field test you wanted after all, Doctor. I think it's about time we contacted Mr Trent to let him know of our success with phase two." He straightened his tie, and slicked back his dark hair with his hand.

Max glanced back as he was led out of the room. Phase two? What was phase two? Who was Trent? He had this nasty feeling that what had just happened was only the beginning of whatever plans Masters had up his sleeve. 

************

Part Eight

Ami leant against Millie's bed to steady herself, her mind bombarded by powerful psychic images. She pulled herself back to reality, as she became aware of someone talking to her.

"Ami, are you okay?" Caroline Damon sounded very concerned.

Ami didn't answer her for a moment, she was still feeling quite shaken by what she had seen and felt. She'd never received such feelings of anger and fear from Adam before and it scared her. The mental picture of Megabyte being restrained with a gun pushed up against his head hadn't helped her state of mind either. The images had disappeared as fast as they had come, almost as though someone had flicked an off switch on the telepathic transmission. As she prepared to answer Mrs Damon, Ami received another flash, much weaker this time, from Megabyte. Adam, what had they done to Adam? Then suddenly Megabyte's presence was gone as well, totally. One minute she had been aware of him in her mind, the next nothing, absolutely nothing. Ami sent out a telepathic probe, hoping to pick something up from either of her two friends.

[Ami?]

[Kevin, what's happening?] Ami felt relieved to hear the familiar mental voice. [I just received a couple of flashes, a powerful one from Adam followed by a much weaker one from Megabyte.]

[Yeah, so did we. I think you need to get over here straight away. There are some people you need to meet.] Kevin paused before continuing. [Did you see the face of the man holding the gun on Megabyte? It was Colonel Masters!]

Ami could feel the anger coming from the younger boy. Even though she had never met Masters herself she knew from what Adam, Megabyte and Kevin had told her, how dangerous and ruthless the man was. If he had their friends… Well it didn't bear thinking about.

[I'll be there as soon as I can, Kevin. Don't do anything silly, like trying to go after Adam and Megabyte on your own.]

No answer. 

[Kevin?]

[Don't worry, Ami. I'll make sure he doesn't.] Jade sounded as though she was trying hard not to cry. The younger girl was obviously very upset by the whole thing.

[I'll be there soon, Jade. Don't worry, we'll get them out of this. I promise.] Ami tried to sound positive as she reassured her fellow Tomorrow Person, something she wasn't exactly feeling herself.

"Ami?" Mrs Damon repeated her earlier question. "Are you sure you're okay? Geoff, go and get Millie's father, will you? He's in reception talking to the police."

"Is it Megabyte?" asked Millie. "Has something happened to Megabyte?" As the girl spoke, she pushed her shoulder length red hair back off her face.

Not for the first time, Ami marvelled how alike Millie and her brother were. Same hair, pale complexion and the way those blue eyes could change in intensity when they knew you were trying to hide something. Megabyte was quite a bit taller than his younger sister but basically that was the main difference between the two. Of course Ami had more than enough sense not to point this out to her fellow Tomorrow Person. Sibling rivalry was alive and well in the Damon household, that was for sure.

Ami realised that Mrs Damon was also waiting for answers, her expression reminding her of Megabyte. Genetics had seemed to favour their mother's side of the family as opposed to the General's. Ami knew that both Millie and her mother knew about Megabyte's powers and a little of some of the dangers he had got himself mixed up in before, but wasn't sure how much she should tell them about the current situation. At the moment they had enough to worry about.

She sat down on the end of Millie's bed and tried to put some words together, tried to work out what exactly she should tell them. They needed to know what was going on, but at the same time it might be easier for them if they didn't. Ami looked up as General Damon pulled back the checked curtain that separated the cubicle from the rest of the A&E department.

"Geoff tells me you almost fainted or something. What's going on, Ami? Has something else happened?" Ami could tell from the man's expression that he had a fair idea what had probably just happened. She'd realised during their previous conversation that he suspected well enough how much trouble Adam and Megabyte were in. 

Ami nodded, coming to a decision. " Mrs Damon, Millie, I'm sure Megabyte's okay." He and Adam have to be, she thought furiously before continuing. "I just received a message from him, that's all. He and Adam have got involved in something…"

Steve, the nurse, bustled into the cubicle before Ami could go any further. "Right, young lady," he said. "You're very lucky, that arm's not broken, just very badly sprained. I just need to strap it, and you'll be as good as new in no time."

The young blond man ushered General Damon and Ami out as he continued. "Sorry, I need a bit of space to do this. Her mum can stay if she wants but the rest of you can come back shortly." 

"Is that okay with you, Millie?" he asked. 

Millie lay back on the pillow as she replied. Her lack of colour was due to more than just her injury, Ami surmised. She'd be worried about her brother. Millie shot her father a look as he was leaving. Make things right. Damon gave his daughter a quick smile of reassurance as he left the cubicle, though Ami could tell he wasn't feeling as sure of things as he was trying to make out. He's trying to put on a brave face to stop his family worrying. Poor General Damon, his life has never been the same since he found out about the Tomorrow People.

"Yeah, I'd like Mom to stay. Ami, come back and tell me what's going on, please." Millie sat back on the bed and leaned against the hospital issue pillow. 

Mrs Damon put a hand on Ami's shoulder. "Talk to Bill," she said. "I'll stay here with Millie. Go."

**********

As Ami and General Damon walked outside into the fresh air, looking for somewhere to talk in private, they didn't notice Geoff following them at a distance. The boy had gone to get a drink after tracking down Millie's dad and had just caught the tail end of the conversation between Ami and the Damons. Something was definitely going down here, something serious that affected the safety of Millie and probably her brother as well. Geoff had been puzzled as to why Megabyte hadn't come to the hospital to see his sister, put two and two together and worked out something must have happened to him. What he had overheard just confirmed his suspicions. Maybe it was something to do with General Damon's job he supposed, after all the man must have made some enemies over the years. The teenager was going to find out what exactly, and do something about it. No one tried to run over his girl and got away with it. Nobody.

He pulled his jacket around him, it was certainly much colder outside, and watched Ami and General Damon sit down on one of the hospital benches. Geoff edged behind one of the trees near where they were, and strained his ears to try and make out what they were saying.

********

"What did you see? Is Max okay? Someone talk to me." Liz couldn't stand the silence any longer. Liz had watched the Tomorrow People and the two aliens link hands to initiate this mind-merge thing Kevin had explained to them. How had he put it again? Pooling their powers, something like that.

The blue glow that had surrounded the quartet had fascinated the scientist in her, but then when it had suddenly cut out and she had seen the expressions on the faces of her friends, Liz had become quite concerned. Kevin and Jade had also seemed quite unsteady on their feet for an instant, she noticed. Whatever they had picked up on, it had affected them quite strongly, more so than Michael and Isabel.

Jade in particular seemed very upset. In fact the younger girl seemed close to tears. As Liz put her arms around her, she noticed the British Tomorrow Person seemed suddenly preoccupied. 

Jade turned to Liz, seeming to suddenly realise she was there. "Sorry," she apologised "I was talking to Ami in London. She's worried that Kevin might try and go after Masters by himself."

"Who's Masters?" butted in Maria. "Did you manage to contact Megabyte and Adam?" She looked around the room and it suddenly dawned on Liz who she was looking for.

Where was Alex? Oh yeah, he'd popped home to pick up his laptop. Liz felt her face grow warm as she realised why. Surely Michael hadn't asked him to do some research on their new friends? One of these days he was going to have to trust someone. It wasn't something Max would have done but then that definitely wasn't the time and place to mention that fact to Michael. Or was it? Kevin had trusted them by telling the Tomorrow People's secrets. Wasn't it time that information went both ways? Liz wished Max were here. He'd know what to do.

"How much exactly did you guys see and hear?" Kevin directed his question at Isobel and Michael.

"Enough to know that we need to get Max and your friends out of there, fast," Michael surmised grimly. "Was Masters the one holding the gun on Megabyte?" Maybe Michael was finally realising that the time for secrets was over. If they didn't work together, they'd never get Max and the others back. That fact was growing clearer by the moment.

Kevin nodded. "Megabyte, Adam and I have met him once before, when Megabyte and I first became Tomorrow People. Masters' a real creep, wouldn't surprise me if he's on some sort of revenge kick or something." Another thought occurred to him. "Wonder what that band thing was on Adam's head? That's the thing that really worries me. The second flash, the one from Megabyte, stopped very abruptly. They must have fitted one on him as well. Maybe it stops us using our powers or something?"

"What second flash?" asked Michael. " I only saw one, I'm sure of it. I didn't see that headband thing you just mentioned either."

"Megabyte sent a flash as well, but it was very faint. It must have been too weak for you guys to see. Obviously your telepathy isn't as strong as ours." Jade reached for her handkerchief as she continued. "Adam was on the floor screaming, with some sort of band on his head. Megabyte was yelling at Masters, he was really angry and I could feel how scared he was." She wiped her nose with her hanky. "I don't remember ever picking up fear like that from either of them."

"What about Max?" Liz realised none of them had mentioned Max. Was he okay? What was this Masters going to do with him? 

"Max looked okay, don't worry. If this head band is designed to affect Tomorrow People, he's probably in no immediate danger."

Michael shook his head. "Don't be so sure of that. We don't know exactly where our powers come from. You said yourself we seem to have some telepathic abilities. Maybe we're not as different from you as what we think. Besides what if this Masters realises he has a real live alien in his clutches? What do you think he'll do to Max then?"

****************

Part Nine

"So let me get this straight," Bill sighed to himself as he continued. Sometimes it would be really nice for that feeling that things couldn't get any worse to be true. One thing you could certainly count on with Adam and Megabyte was that those two seemed to really have the tendency of getting themselves in trouble down to an art form. Mind you, the other Tomorrow People seemed to be not much better at times.

"According this these flashes you received, Masters has Megabyte, Adam and this Max Evans. To top things off, he also seems to laid his hands on some sort of technology which nullifies their special powers. That's in a nutshell, right?"

Ami nodded, but said nothing.

"Ami, why am I getting the impression you're leaving a few facts out here? Look I know what Masters is capable of. Whatever you're going to tell me, I've probably already suspected as much. Come on, spill."

"Okay." As Ami began to speak, Bill felt his heart sink. He'd suspected the worst but to actually hear it described… "Masters was holding a gun on Megabyte. Adam was sending a flash to show us what was happening when he was fitted with some kind of headband. I could see him screaming in pain, General. Megabyte showed me. They were scared, both of them. I've never felt fear like that from either of them before."

"Do you know what the headband was, Ami?"

"No, but it must be the thing stopping them using their powers. Where I should be getting some sort of sense of them, there's nothing. I'm also wondering if they've been drugged because I felt a needle prick in my arm just before I got the first flash from Adam. Megabyte's flash was a lot weaker too. Whatever's happened, his powers weren't working properly even before the headband thing took effect."

Bill sat in silence for a while, trying to dispel the guilt he was feeling. If Masters hurt either one of them, he'd never forgive himself. He remembered all too well the report that had landed on his desk at WorldEx a couple of days ago. The report had stated that Masters had been spotted in the vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico and that he seemed to be setting up for some sort of experiment. At least that was the way the report seemed to read, according to Bill's own reasoning. Why else would a scientist such as Graeme Brooke-Smythe have been seen talking to the man? Shortly after the meeting, both Brooke-Smythe and Masters disappeared, and a lot of rather expensive cutting-edge technology seemed have gone with them.

Bill had been torn between letting Adam know then what his suspicions were, and trying to find some more information before worrying the young man unnecessarily. One thing he had been sure of, whatever this experiment was it would probably involve the Tomorrow People in some shape or form. He'd decided, obviously none too wisely if hindsight was anything to go on, to look into the matter further first. Bill laughed to himself bitterly as he all too well remembered the words he'd reassured himself with at the time. What possible harm could a couple of days make? After all what were the chances that Megabyte and Jade would head for Roswell? None at all, absolutely none. 

"General Damon?" Ami sounded concerned. She must be wondering what the hell was going through his mind. Not that he blamed her of course.

Bill pulled himself together. No point in crying over spilt milk was there? What was done was done. What they needed to concentrate on now was finding Masters and rescuing the kids, before he did anything else to them.

"Right," he said. "I'll go back inside and talk to Caroline and Millie. I don't think I'll tell them all the details for now, I'm having enough problems getting that mental picture out of my head as it is. Ami, can you go reassure Penny Weston that Jade is okay, and then come back for me? I think it's time I paid a visit to Roswell, don't you?"

Ami nodded as she initiated the teleport. Hopefully she knew him well enough by now to know he was going to come to Roswell whether she agreed or not. Bill smiled in spite of himself as he watched her vanish. At least Masters wouldn't know about her and Jade. Maybe that would give them the edge they needed to save the others. Sometimes at times like these, he felt as though he had parental responsibilities towards all the Tomorrow People, not just Megabyte.

Bill pulled up the collar of his coat, suddenly feeling the cold. As he stood up from the seat he and Ami had been sharing, the American heard a noise behind him. That's all they needed at this point in time, someone seeing Ami teleport. After all, what else could possibly go wrong today?

"Who's there?" he called out sharply. "Show yourself". Bill reached into his pocket, making sure his gun was still there. Hopefully he wouldn't have to use it. He'd had enough problems trying to explain things to the police already for one day.

Geoff Anderson, Millie's boyfriend, came out slowly from behind the tree overshadowing the bench where they had been sitting. He looked a bit shell shocked, and Bill wondered how much of the conversation he'd overheard.

"Geoff! I thought you were inside with Millie. Come on, let's go back inside, it's cold out here." Bill put his hand on the boy's shoulder, ready to lead him back inside the hospital.

To his surprise the boy pulled away, an angry look on his face. "When where you going to tell me what's exactly going on? If some nutter has Megabyte and Adam I think I have a right to know. After all they are my friends too, you know. I want to help. Or were you going to just treat me like a little kid and pretend everything was okay?"

"Look, Geoff." Bill tried his best to control his anger at the boy's outburst. After all, he had enough problems at the moment without having to deal with this on top of everything else. "You don't have a clue about what's going on here. You'd be getting in way over your head."

"No I don't have a clue what's going on. All I know is that I saw Ami disappear into thin air and heard things I'm still not sure I believe. But that doesn't mean I can't help. Does it?"

Geoff looked up at Bill with such an earnest expression in his eyes, that the older man couldn't help but believe every word the boy had said. After all, it did look as though Geoff had heard enough to realise that Megabyte and his friends had abilities that couldn't exactly be described as normal. Maybe he could help by keeping an eye on Millie. After all it was definitely beginning to seem as though her accident hadn't been an accident. In fact Bill was beginning to suspect very strongly that Masters had been behind the attempted hit and run. He'd known the day he'd debunked the teleporter project and portrayed Masters for who and what he really was in his reports, that the man wouldn't be content until he had achieve some form of revenge against his former boss. That after all, was the kind of person Masters was.

Bill had known that Megabyte and the rest of the Tomorrow People would be at risk as well as himself, but had never thought of harm coming to Millie. After all what had the child ever done to warrant any action being taken against her? But then, the Tomorrow People themselves had done nothing to Masters when they had first met, and look at what his plans had been towards them. Plans that had been thought of while the man had been under Bill's own command. He remembered only too well his words to Megabyte as though it was yesterday "I bet you never thought your father would end up being the chief bad guy." At least he'd realised what he was involved in was wrong, and had turned his efforts into helping the Tomorrow People to survive. Mind you, would it have been so easy to make that decision if his son hadn't turned out to be a teleporter? It was a fact he tried not to think about.

Bill realised that Geoff was still standing there waiting for some kind of response on his part. "Okay, Geoff, okay. I'll explain everything but first let's go see how Millie's doing, eh?" 

As they made their way back to his wife and daughter, Bill wondered how much information would satisfy the boy's need to know. The less he knew the better and safer for everyone concerned, Geoff himself included.

*************

Colonel Masters looked up from his phone call with an expression of barely disguised annoyance. "Hold on a minute, Trent. Brooke-Smythe seems to have run into some sort of extremely important problem." He gestured to the scientist with his left hand. "At least I'm presuming it's an extremely important problem. I left explicit instructions not to be disturbed."

Brooke-Smythe stood in front of the desk, looking extremely nervous. In his hands, he had the vials of blood samples he had taken, and a long computer print out. "It's the blood samples," he began hesitantly, not sure how his employer was going to take the news. "I'm not sure how, but the molecular structure of the contents of the test tubes has been changed."

"Changed? What do you mean exactly by changed?"

"Well, let's just say if that's blood well I'm a …" Brooke-Smythe's voice tailed off. No it wasn't a good idea to finish that sentence. He held the test tube out to Masters and indicated that the man should taste the contents, ignoring the look his companion was giving him.

Masters snatched the tube from him and sniffed the contents. He poured a minute amount onto his finger and tasted. "Tabasco Sauce!" he exclaimed. His mind went back to the events in the laboratory as he remembered seeing Max Evans waving his hand over the test tubes, just before he had been subdued by security. Had the boy been able to somehow change the blood samples into what he had in front of him now?

"Well, it looks as though you'd better go and get some more samples, doesn't it? Oh, and Brooke-Smythe?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Try and keep a better eye on them this time, will you?"

"Yes, sir." Brooke-Smythe opened his mouth and closed it again. Sensible move. Why where all scientists such idiots? Masters had hoped he'd left that behind with Galt. Obviously not. 

As he watched the scientist leave the room, Masters resumed his conversation with Trent. "Sorry about that, Simon. An interesting development has occurred. Apparently these so called Tomorrow People are even more dangerous than we first suspected. They are obviously capable of changing molecular structure as well as the new force field ability I told you about earlier. Taking into account those other abilities I discovered when I first met them, it certainly seems that we have made the right decision about eliminating the threat. Yes, this new species make an extremely dangerous adversary…"

Masters put down the receiver after his conversation and thought about the last few years. He still had a clear mental picture in his mind of the last time he had met with General Damon. His son had held a gun on him, ready to pull the trigger. It was lucky for him that the boy had been young, and obviously very scared. All that rubbish about being peace loving. The peace movement of the sixties came to mind. Masters snorted. A majority of the young people involved in that fiasco had preached peace as the only answer and look what had happened when they had realised that those ideals were not getting the results they desired. Anyone was capable of violence and killing given the right incentive. How long would it be before these Tomorrow People changed their mind and instilled their own brand of terror upon the human race? Teleporters. Imagine the potential use for them as assassins? He shook his head. No one would be safe.

It was lucky for the future of mankind that he, Masters, was still alive. Someone had to protect the gene pool of the human race, keep it pure, untainted. That mission had been his life's work, ever since the Tomorrow People had first slipped through his grasp. 

Once that idiot Brook-Smythe had redone the blood tests, he would be able to see exactly how far these Tomorrow People had already violated their humanity because of their so-called powers. Yes, he would soon know if he could reverse the process and restore their lost humanity to them or whether they were so far from human that the only option left would be the total destruction of them and their kind.

He remembered his conversation with Simon Trent. He had deliberately not mentioned to the man his plan to see if he could eradicate whatever gene caused these Tomorrow People to exist in the first place. Simon's methods were rather more…violent and permanent than his own. Still if he managed to save the human race from the scourge that was the Tomorrow People, maybe the same technology could be used to save the earth from those cursed with immortality as well. Simon would appreciate that application of the results of his work, he was sure. After all weren't they working together to reap mutual benefits from each other's mission, to help solve each other's problems?

Charles Masters, saviour of the human race. Somehow Masters never envisioned that it would him whom mankind would turn to in their great hour of need. It was a shame that most of the human race would never know just how much he was doing for them. A great shame indeed.

**********

Part Ten

"Adam, are you okay?" Max leant over the Australian as he struggled to sit up. Adam looked around and the young alien could see the concern in his eyes as he saw Megabyte sprawled out on some kind of cot bed on the other side of the room. 

Adam groaned and started to put his hand to his head. Max put his hand out to stop him, not wanting his companion to find out the quirks of the headband the hard way, as he had himself earlier. 

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Adam focused his eyes and looked at Max, realisation seeming to dawn in his mind. He glanced again over at Megabyte and then back again at Max, noticing the headbands for the first time. Max's suspicions were confirmed as Adam reached for his own head again. 

"Hey, don't do that, " Max said again.

Adam stopped and this time looked at him with an unspoken question. 

"It will hurt, that's why. The headband sends out some sort of electrical pulse. If you try and get a grip on it, to take it off, the pain gets worse. From what I've tried so far, I think you'd be unconscious before you achieved much. Mind you, I have this nasty feeling there's some kind of locking mechanism on it. That's what it looks like from what I could see from looking at the ones on you and Megabyte." Max paused. "It's hard to be sure when you're trying to avoid touching the thing." 

"Oh okay. Thanks for the warning." Adam rose to his feet very unsteadily and leaned for a moment on the side of the bed on which he had been lying. 

Max heard a groan from the other side and the room and looked over to see Megabyte struggling to sit up. The redhead looked very pale as did Adam. Those headbands hadn't agreed with his companions, not at all. "Megabyte?"

"Adam, you look how I feel. I've got the mother of all headaches." Megabyte looked around the room, pausing as he noticed the heavy door to his right and the small windows near the top of the concrete walls. "Any idea where we are?"

"We're in the basement," Max informed them. "At least I'm guessing it's the basement, judging from that bomb-shelter sign on the wall by the door."

"So what are these things for?" Megabyte indicated the band on his head. "I heard what you were telling Adam. I wonder what Masters has dreamed up in that nasty little mind of his this time? Whatever these bands do, I don't think they're going to be particularly good for our health."

"After you guys blacked out, Masters said something about the bands and psychic powers. I got the impression that if we use our powers the bands somehow use them against us. Maybe it's some kind of feedback loop or something similar." 

" *Our* powers?" asked Megabyte. "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that. At first I thought you might be a Tomorrow Person after the flash I saw when we met at the UFO centre."

"You got a flash as well?" asked Max, a thousand questions rushing through his mind at once. He'd suspected as much at the time, especially after Jade had paled and asked her friend if he was okay.

"Yeah," confirmed Megabyte. "Hey that force-wall thing you did earlier was really cool. We can't do anything like that, at least I don't think we can. Adam?"

"No, I don't think Max is a Tomorrow Person, Megabyte. The question is, if you're not one of us, who are you?"

Max hesitated before replying. He had a strong feeling he could trust both of them. After all they seemed to be in as much trouble as he was. Yet there was still one thing bugging him.

"At first I thought you were might be someone called Nasedo. W--I've been looking for him for a while." Max hoped they hadn't noticed he'd almost said we instead of I. That was two slip ups in as many minutes. Not like him at all, he'd had years of pretending to be someone he wasn't. Why was he suddenly having problems now? Maybe it's because you've found others that you can relate to, a small voice whispered in the back of his mind.

"Yeah you mentioned his name just before Masters' goons struck," remembered Megabyte. "So if you're not a Tomorrow Person, who or what are you?"

"What's a Tomorrow Person?" asked Max. He saw Adam and Megabyte looking at each other and continued. "Well if I tell you about me, it's only fair that the information goes both ways."

Adam nodded. "We're the next stage of human evolution," he explained. "As you've probably guessed we can teleport, and talk to each other telepathically."

"So it's basically psychic powers you have?" asked Max. "That explains what Masters was going on about." He saw the looks his companions were giving him and continued hastily. "After he fitted this head band he warned me about using psychic powers. I sort of guessed he must have thought I was like you guys, with all the talking about telepathy and the like."

He frowned. "That was the bit that I didn't really get. Masters kept going on about you using telepathy and yet I could hear everything you were saying."

"You must be telepathic then," said Megabyte excitedly. "So what else can you do? Apart from that force wall thing, I mean. Even though you're not a Tomorrow Person it sounds as though you have some of the same powers that we do."

"Yeah it does, doesn't it? My powers aren't psychic though, at least I never thought of them in that way." Max thought for a moment, before asking what was on his mind. "Do you have healing powers and can you open locks by thinking about it?"

Adam paused before replying. "We have telekinesis and I used to have healing powers, at least until I burnt them out. At least I'm guessing that's what happened to them. They've been almost non existent after I healed a guy after he came off a building. Have you?" 

Max nodded. "But I'm not a Tomorrow Person. My powers are because…" he took a deep breath and wondered if he was doing the right thing even as he spoke. "My powers are because of where I'm from."

"Where you're from?" asked Adam.

"Don't you get it, Adam?" Megabyte rolled his eyes. "He means he's an alien. Is that right?"

Max nodded. "How did you know?"

Megabyte looked smug. "I've read a lot of science fiction and comic books."

Adam looked at him in disbelief. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the flash you got from him either, I suppose?"

"Yeah well there's that too." Megabyte admitted. "But hey, you must admit, it sounded good."

"So what makes you Tomorrow People? Is it something in the genes?" Max asked.

Megabyte looked down at his trousers and grinned. " No it's in the sweatpants," he deadpanned.

Adam groaned. "That's bad, Megabyte, even for you."

Megabyte opened his mouth, then turned around as the door to the room they were in, opened. He glanced at Adam who shook his head. Max silently agreed, as he hazarded a guess as to what they had been thinking. If they tried to escape now, he doubted they would get very far. 

Brooke-Smythe entered the room, putting the tray of test tubes and syringes down on the table in the middle of the room. He had Beckett and Hawkins with him, both of whom were heavily armed.

"Didn't you get enough to feed your vampires with last time?" asked Megabyte sarcastically.

Brooke-Smythe glared at him as he picked up one of syringes. "Right, which one of you wants to go first? I know, I'll choose." He pointed to Megabyte. "You can, seeing you've got such a smart mouth on you. Do I need to get one of these men to hold you down or are you going to cooperate?"

"Oh I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble," the redhead replied sulkily.

"Megabyte…" Adam started to say warningly.

"Oh don't worry about your friend. He's knows what's good for him, don't you, Megabyte?" Brooke-Smythe smiled thinly as he plunged the needle in. He seemed almost to delight in what he was doing.

Megabyte winced as the needle slid into his arm. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, as Adam gave him another warning glance. 

As Max felt the needle slide into his own arm, he wondered whether the man had ever been told how to take blood samples without hurting the patient. Ouch! Obviously not. It looked too that Masters must have finally discovered what had happened to the original samples. I wonder how long before he realises who I am really am, thought Max, as he watched the syringe fill with the alien blood which flowed through his veins. Once Masters had this particular batch analysed, the proverbial cat would be out of the bag.

As Brooke-Smythe packed up his supplies and left the room, with the two men in tow, Max noticed Megabyte watching him, a grin slowly spreading over his face. The other boy must be putting two and two together. As soon as the door closed Megabyte turned to Max, unable to contain himself any longer.

"Okay, what's the story with the blood samples?" 

Max grinned, lowering his voice as he leaned closer to the two Tomorrow People. "I don't think they were expecting to find test tubes of Tabasco Sauce." 

"Tabasco sauce?" asked Megabyte, looking down at the still oozing wound on his arm. "I know I have a hot temper sometimes, but last I looked it was still blood flowing through there."

"I can change the molecular structure of things," Max explained.

Both Megabyte and Adam laughed. "Why Tabasco Sauce?" the Australian asked.

"It's an alien thing," explained Max. "I like sweet and spicy things together. I go through a lot of Tabasco Sauce and I suppose in the spur of the moment…"

"I love it," exclaimed Megabyte. "Just imagine Masters' face when he found out. Serves the creep right."

Adam's tone of voice brought Max back to the seriousness of the situation they were in, as he asked his next question. "Roswell aliens. Max I know this is going to sound crazy but you wouldn't know anything about the '47 crash would you?"

"Hey I thought I was the one who was supposed to come out with those sorts of things," complained Megabyte.

"Well, actually," replied Max. "That's how we got here in the first place, in the 1947 crash. My earliest memories are breaking free of some kind of cocoon and wandering along the road…I think we must have been in those cocoons in some sort of suspended animation for years because we only looked about seven when we were found by our foster parents"

"That's what I saw in the flash, the cocoon thing I mean," confirmed Megabyte.

Adam frowned. "We?" he asked. "Why do I get the feeling you haven't told us everything?"

Max felt a slight trickle of guilt wash over him. "Sorry, it's hard for me to trust someone. I've spent most of my life hiding who I am and I guess old habits die hard."

"Look you can trust us," Adam was trying to reassure him, and Max appreciated the effort he was making. "After all we have a fair idea what's you're going through, trying to pretend to be normal. We've got just as much to lose here as you have. There's other Tomorrow People besides just Megabyte and I to worry about too."

"Jade? She's one of you, isn't she?" Max looked at Megabyte and wondered what the relationship between him and the girl he had been with was.

Megabyte blushed, his face changing colour to match his hair. "Yeah, Jade's one of us. No, she's not my girlfriend if that's what you're thinking. No way. It's not going to happen."

Max caught the small smile Adam made before he turned away. So he hadn't been the only who had noticed Megabyte jump at the innocently asked question then. It looked as though it wasn't only himself and Liz who were trying to sort out a relationship. Liz. Max stopped as he thought about her. He hoped he hadn't left things too late. If he never got to the chance to tell her how he really felt, he'd never forgive himself. 

************

Colonel Masters reached for his cup of coffee as he watched the events unwinding on the video screen in front of him. He knew it had been a particularly good idea to place a video feed into the basement room. 

So Max Evans wasn't a Tomorrow Person, but an alien survivor of the Roswell crash. It sounded as though he had stumbled onto a bit more than he had hoped for when he'd mistaken the boy for the Tomorrow Person he knew as Adam. He made a mental note to inform Trent of this new information. They certainly had their work cut out for them, what with aliens, Tomorrow People, and Trent's own problem.

He sighed to himself. So much to do, so little time. Still one thing at a time he supposed. Even though that mess up with the blood samples had cost him time, at least he had learnt about Evans' other power because of it. He glanced at his watch. Soon it would be time to put the next stage of his plan into operation. This was the part he was really looking forward to, telling General Damon what his plans were for Megabyte, Adam and hopefully the rest of their kind.

**************

Part Eleven 

"I'm telling you the best way you can help is to go home with Millie and her mom and keep an eye on them." Bill felt his patience disappearing as he repeated what he had been trying to get through to Geoff for the last ten minutes. The boy was keen to find those responsible for Millie's accident and seemed to be treating the whole situation as something out of an adventure movie. 

Bill had tried explaining the danger involved but soon got the impression that what he was saying was literally going in one ear and out the other. He'd been forced to explain about the teleporting to Geoff but had managed to keep it to that for now. The boy had made it clear that he wasn't going to take no for an answer about that, after seeing it for himself, but at least for now that was all, in Bill's opinion, that Geoff needed to find out about. Hopefully the situation wouldn't arise where any other explanations would be required. 'Hopefully' being a very optimistic word at this point, given the way this mess was going.

"But General Damon, I only want to help."

"Well you can help by looking after Millie. I'd feel a lot better knowing someone was looking out for her." Bill was finding it hard keeping his voice down. In some ways this conversation was reminding him of the ones he had with Megabyte and those never seemed to come out the way he wanted either. Teenagers! 

"General Damon are you ready to go?" Ami poked her head around the door of the relatives' room. "Oh sorry, Geoff, am I interrupting something?" 

"Yeah I want to go with you to Roswell to find Megabyte and Adam and the General thinks I should stay here." Geoff noticed the expression on Ami's face and continued hastily. "It's okay, Ami, I saw you teleport outside and made General Damon tell me what was going on."

"It's okay, Ami. We can trust him. He overheard what we were saying outside and after seeing you teleport I had to give him some sort of explanation. I was just telling him how important it was to have someone stay with Millie in case someone comes after her again." Ami gave Bill a questioning look, a look he knew would be coming after what he'd just said. Not that he blamed her. After all it was her safety and that of her fellow Tomorrow People at risk here, not his. But coming out with 'I've only told him what he needs to hear,' wasn't going to enlist much cooperation from the kid was it?

As Ami followed his lead, Bill heaved a silent sigh of relief. He had hoped he could trust her to guess what he was doing. "Yes, Geoff, with everything going on it would be one less thing to worry about. Besides, think of how Millie would feel if you left her alone now, after what she's been through? I know if it were me I'd want you to stay."

Geoff looked at her for a couple of minutes, seemingly deep in thought. "Yeah you're probably right, Ami. Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help you guys, okay?"

Bill handed him a card with his cell phone number on. "If anything happens Geoff, anything suspicious, ring me immediately on this number. I'll send someone to back you up. Ami, give him Megabyte's phone, just in case."

Ami reached around in her pocket and retrieved the phone she'd just collected from Penny Weston. She handed it to Geoff who was staring at the card in his hand.

"Do you really think that someone might come after her again?" he asked.

"I hope not Geoff, but the person we think is behind this operation is very ruthless and I wouldn't put anything past him at this point in time."

As Geoff left the room, closing the door behind him, Bill turned to Ami as she prepared to initiate the teleport. "Okay, Ami, what's your secret? I spend ten minutes talking to the guy, trying to convince him to stay behind and you achieve it in two."

Ami smiled. "Something you haven't got, General. " she replied. "A woman's touch."

****************

Kyle Valenti stood on the corner opposite the Crashdown, wondering how close he could get without anyone inside noticing him. That Whitman kid, Alex, had just re entered the building with his laptop under his arm. Kyle noticed that he had been looking around him nervously as he walked along the road towards the café.

Kyle had been suspicious since he had noticed Michael and Isabel coming out of the UFO centre after closing. They looked, in his opinion, very shaken. Even though Max Evans was nowhere in sight, he couldn't help but wonder if he had something to do with what ever was going down. He'd followed the two of them back to the Crashdown, telling himself that he was doing it to watch out for Liz. Even though she had made it clear that she was interested in Max now, he felt a duty to look out for her. After all he still wasn't sure that Evans would. When it boiled down to it, he really didn't trust the guy.

As he stood there trying to decide what to do next, he glanced into the alley beside the café and was surprised when he saw a flash of bright light which coalesced into two human forms standing where a moment ago there had been nothing. The young dark girl, slightly older than Kyle himself, motioned to her companion, an older man who looked about the same age as Sheriff Valenti to follow her into the café. As they approached the door it opened, so obviously someone was expecting them.

Right, thought Kyle to himself, that's it. There's something weird going on down here and Dad needs to know about it. As he headed towards the sheriff's office where his father was still working late, he wondered idly where Max Evans was. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen him for quite a while. Yes it certainly sounded as though Evans and his friends were up to something. Whatever it was Kyle hoped for their sake that they hadn't placed Liz in any danger.

****************

"This is Ami and General Damon, Megabyte's dad." Kevin introduced the two new arrivals to the group in the Crashdown. "Ami, General this is Michael, Isabel, Liz, Maria and Alex." 

Bill looked around at the group of teenagers in front of him, groaning to himself. Great, more kids to worry about. Just what he needed. The brown haired teen, Michael, was glaring at him, not even making an attempt to hide his feelings. The kid was annoyed about his arrival, that was obvious.

The shorter blonde girl, Maria, glared at Michael in a way that reminded Bill of Jade and Marmaduke. Alex put a protective arm around Isabel but the tall attractive blonde girl moved away. Liz seemed upset and very much on her own, at least if you were looking at the group from a couple point of view. Bill wondered if she was connected to Max in some way. Girlfriend perhaps?

Bill turned to ask Kevin for an explanation, but noticed that familiar glazed eye expression. One of these days the Tomorrow People were going to realise just how rude that was. As if they realised what he was thinking, which was totally possible even with the assurances Adam kept giving him that they really didn't do that sort of thing, the conversation switched to speech.

Jade grinned. "Oh yeah, Ami, there's something we haven't told you about Michael and Max yet. They're aliens."

Bill felt the sudden urge to sit down. Aliens? He echoed in his mind one of the phrases Megabyte liked to use. Yeah right.

Michael glared at her. "Hey, I thought you said you wouldn't give away our secret. I trusted you."

Jade glared back at him. "Oh chill out, Michael. Ami's a Tomorrow Person like us."

"Yeah okay, but what about him?" Michael waved his hand towards Bill, the annoyance showing through in his voice.

"Look I understand what you must be thinking, Michael, isn't it, but I'm on your side. I want to rescue the boys as badly as you do. Megabyte is my son, remember." Time to try and salvage the situation, Bill decided.

"So how do you explain the teleporting project you worked on for the SIA?" Michael glanced at Alex as he spoke. 

"So that's what the two of you were talking about when Alex came back," commented Liz. "I can't believe you got him to run checks on our new friends. Max wouldn't have."

"Well Maxwell isn't here, I am." Michael's temper was starting to wear thin. "Max might be all trusting but it's not exactly helping him now is it?"

"Hey Michael…" Maria started to comment on Michael's display of utter tactlessness when Bill held up his hand and interrupted.

"Look, you guys, I can explain about the whole SIA thing if it will help. We've got to trust each other and work together or we've got no show of rescuing anyone."

"Okay then I'm listening." Michael folded his arms, settled himself back on a stool, and leant against the counter. 

Bill cleared his throat, wondering how exactly he was going to put this. Michael was certainly a suspicious kid. He thought again about what Jade had said about aliens and sighed. Knowing how Masters felt about the Tomorrow People he couldn't help but worry how he would react when he found out that Max was an alien.

"It's true I worked for the Scientific Intelligence Agency," he started to explain, trying to ignore the glares Michael was still giving him. "When I found out about the existence of the Tomorrow People, and my own son was threatened, I decided that what they were doing was wrong and I left the organisation. Now I'm working for WorldEx, as your info probably has already told you." He made a mental note to increase security around his organisation's Internet files. Obviously Alex was another Megabyte, a bit too good at gaining access to classified information.

"Yeah but would you have left the SIA if Megabyte wasn't a Tomorrow Person?" Michael asked. 

"What Michael is trying to say, in his own unique way," piped up Maria, "is that okay we know the TP's can trust you because you're Megabyte's dad and all. But does he know you won't give him up to the bad guys? After all he's not a Tomorrow Person, he's an alien. That puts a whole different spin on it."

"General Damon would never do anything like that!" protested Jade.

Bill smiled at her, wishing he still had that trust in people that she possessed. In some ways it was a shame that she had to grow up so fast, being a Tomorrow Person. As you got older it became a lot harder to view the world in black and white instead of the grey it actually was.

" I wouldn't do that, Michael. " Bill tried to sound reassuring to the young alien, but could see that he wasn't buying it. He decided to try another tactic, maybe something Michael could understand. "I can see you still don't trust me, and let's face it - why should you?"

"General…" Ami started to say. Bill gave her a quick smile, trying to get across the fact that he knew what he was doing. Well at least he hoped he knew what he was doing. 

He continued quickly. "Let's put this into terms you can relate to. If I give you up to the authorities, how can I be sure you won't tell them about the Tomorrow People? I mean if they have concrete proof about the existence of aliens, they're just as likely to believe stories about teleporters too, aren't they?"

"In other words we have to trust each other because we have no choice. Is that what you're saying?" Michael still didn't sound very convinced.

Bill nodded. "In a nutshell, yes. What makes you think I trust you any more than you trust me?"

"I trust you, " said Isabel. "My brother's life depends on it. Don't worry about Michael, he'll help because of Max. We're not about to give away information about the Tomorrow People either, any more than they are about us."

"Okay, now we've got that out of the way, can we think about a rescue attempt here?" asked Maria. "If you're waiting for Michael to come out and thank you for coming you'll still be here next Christmas." The girl looked fed up with all the talking, and frankly Bill didn't blame her. "From what I can see this bad guy has Max and your friends holed up somewhere and has got nasty things planned for them." Maria looked around the room as she spoke, ignoring the glares coming in her direction. "I mean all this talk about trust is really nice guys, but it's not going to do much is it? What we need is a plan here."

"Maria's right," Liz broke her long silence. "I don't know about you guys but I'm trying really hard here not to think about what this Masters person might be doing to Max and the others while we're sitting here talking. If he's found some way to prevent them using their powers, who knows what else he might be going to do to them?"

As if on cue the cell phone in Bill's pocket rang. Hope that isn't Geoff already. That's all they needed at the moment.

"Damon, here." As he answered the phone his face paled. "Masters!" he exclaimed. "If you've hurt them…" Bill didn't dare finish that sentence even in his own mind. This was the thing he had dreaded ever since Megabyte had become a Tomorrow Person. Yes he'd heard Ami telling him what had happened earlier but hearing Masters voice telling him he had his son…and Adam. It only brought it home all too clearly, made it harder to pretend it wasn't real. Made it harder to pretend that everything would be okay, when really he wasn't sure it was going to be.

"Yes alright I'll be there." Bill listened to the rest of what Masters had to say and realised the man held the ace in the hole so to speak. "Yes, I know I don't have a choice, but I'm warning you Masters…Damn, he's gone." Bill sat down on one of the stools at the counter, and poured himself a cup of coffee. He took a couple of strong gulps before turning around to face the young people waiting expectantly to hear what he had to say.

"As you probably gathered, that was Colonel Masters. He says that Megabyte, Adam and Max are okay, for now. He wants to meet with me to discuss terms, and if I don't show up at the place and time he's specified he'll…" Bill's voice tailed off. 

"You can't trust him, " exclaimed Kevin. "You can't seriously think that he's honestly going to let them go, can you? Masters has wanted to get his hands on the Tomorrow People for years. Now he's got Megabyte and Adam, he'll use them for whatever scheme he's brewing up. He's got a score to settle with them too, after what happened last time, and with you too, I'd imagine."

Bill nodded. "Don't you think I know that, Kevin? But what choice do I have? " He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice. "Megabyte's my son. I just can't leave him and Adam in the clutches of that maniac. Or Max either for that matter. It's not the boy's fault he walked into this mess."

A new voice spoke quietly as he stepped into the room "I understand how you must be feeling, but it's not good policy to give in to kidnappers."

"Great," muttered Michael. " Just what we need. Always a cop around when you don't need one."

******************

Part Twelve 

"Jim Valenti. I'm the local sheriff. " Valenti held out his hand. "Sorry for the intrusion but my son, Kyle," he indicated the dark haired well built teenager standing beside him, " thought there was something weird going on here and asked me to check things out. It sounds as though he was right, from what I've heard."

Bill stared at the sheriff and tried to pull himself together, wondering how much the man had heard of the conversation. Hopefully not too much, but the way things were going today, it wouldn't surprise him if his luck was taking an extended vacation somewhere. How the hell had they entered without being noticed? Bill mentally hit himself over the head. He was so caught up in what was going down that he was slipping. This situation was far too personal, he wasn't reacting the way he should. No. He was reacting like a parent whose kids were in danger. Which they were. Bill looked on all the Tomorrow People as his kids, as his responsibility, not just Marmaduke.

He took Valenti's proffered hand and introduced himself. "Bill Damon. Look I appreciate your concern and I know you're only trying to do your job, but the situation is under control." Bill could see from the other man's expression that he wasn't buying what he was saying one little bit.

"Certainly sounds like it from where I'm standing," Valenti replied, looking at him intently. Bill knew he was trying to 'read' him, trying to get an idea of what he might be thinking. He laughed to himself. If only the Sheriff knew how ironic that was, in the present situation. "Kyle and I came in through the back in time to hear enough of the conversation to know that if you want your son back unharmed you're going to need help. I've had experience with this kind of thing."

Experience with this kind of thing? The man had no idea what he was getting into. Hell, no one had the experience to deal with this one.

Valenti frowned before continuing. "Look, I'll be straight with you, and hope you can do the same for me. Kyle noticed you appear out of thin air with a girl about twenty minutes ago. I know it sounds unbelievable but I know my son. He wouldn't say he'd seen something like that unless it were true."

The room had grown very quiet and Bill suddenly put two and two together as to the reason. He looked at the Tomorrow People, wondering what they were talking about. He'd known them long enough by now to realise there was a telepathic conversation taking place.

Ami stepped forward. "We've decided to trust you, Sheriff," she told him. "But you've got to understand that what you are about to hear goes no further than this room."

"Sure," Valenti agreed. "You can trust us, can't she, Kyle?" Well of course the man would say that. Bill realised that ironically his earlier words to Geoff about trust were in effect being thrown back at him. He could never understand the Tomorrow People's tendency to trust others. Maybe their own inability for violence hindered their ability to realise how others seemed to almost thrive on it?

Kyle nodded. The boy still had a look of puzzlement on his face. Not that Bill blamed him. He remembered his reaction when he'd first seen a teleport. Hearing about it had been quite different to actually seeing one. The fact that it had been his own son hadn't helped matters either.

"Are you sure about this, Ami?" asked Bill, checking his watch at the same time. He was supposed to meet Masters in under an hour, and he didn't dare to be late. His old enemy had spelled out in no uncertain terms what he would enjoy doing to his son if he didn't obey the instructions he had been given to the letter.

"We trust Kevin's feelings on this, General," Ami replied. Kevin's feelings. He should have known. Adam and Ami seemed to put a lot of stock in Kevin's empathic abilities. Still they knew more about it than he did, and hopefully Ami knew what she was doing. He wasn't convinced this was a good idea, bringing even more people into the loop.

"Besides," the girl continued. "What choice do we have? If we're going to save the others we're going to need all the help we can get." Ami looked around the room, catching Kevin and Jade's eye, before turning to Valenti. Here comes the TP 101 lecture, thought Bill. More people to add to the list of people for me to keep an eye on after this is over.

"We call ourselves the Tomorrow People," Ami explained. "We have a few abilities that you don't, such as the teleportation Kyle saw earlier. That's the reason Masters kidnapped Adam and Megabyte."

Bill recognised the look on Valenti's face all too well as one he upon mirrored on his own. The man knew he wasn't hearing the full story. Still, now wasn't the time and place for all that, thought Bill, checking his watch again. "Okay," he said. "Explanation time over. I've got to meet Masters shortly and I don't want to think about what will happen if I'm late."

His cellphone rang again, and he reached into his pocket trying to keep the anger he was feeling under control. "I told you I'd be there, Masters," he snapped into the phone.

"Oh, Geoff, it's you. Sorry, thought you were someone else." Bill heard the worried tone in the boy's voice. "Is something wrong? Has something happened to Millie?" 

Bill listened for a moment and then turned to the Tomorrow People. "Geoff thinks there's someone hanging around the house," he explained. "With everything that's happening would one of you mind going and checking things out and maybe taking them somewhere safer. Millie's my daughter, Sheriff." The last comment was directed at Valenti and Kyle.

Kevin spoke up. "I'll go. If I don't like the look of what's going on I can always take them to the island. They'll be safe there."

Bill hesitated before turning to Valenti. Even though Kevin was capable, the thought of the Tomorrow People going into danger, not really being able to defend themselves was something Bill was never going to be comfortable with. He wasn't happy about Kevin maybe walking into whatever was going down in the first place, but really what choice did he have? "I'd feel happier if Kevin had some company, though I'm not sure I have the right to volunteer…"

Valenti interrupted him, anticipating his suggestion. "Good idea. Kyle?"

Kyle looked at his father and back to Bill. "Okay, I'll help. I just have no idea what I'm getting into here so I want you guys to remember that when I regret this later."

"You'll be careful though won't you boys?" said his father. "No taking chances or playing the hero. If things look dangerous you get out of there."

Kyle nodded, as did Kevin. "Thanks for your help, Kyle." As Kevin spoke he held out his hand and Kyle looked at him suspiciously.

"Why do you want to hold my hand for?" he asked. "Hey you're not, you know…"

Kevin stared at Kyle, a look of disbelief fleeting briefly across his features. Jade giggled. "It's so that you'll go with him when he teleports, silly."

"Teleports? Hey what's wrong with using a car?"

"You might find it takes a while to get to London by car," explained Kevin, reaching out and putting his hand on Kyle's shoulder before he had a chance to change his mind.

"London?" exclaimed Kyle, as Kevin closed his eyes and they both vanished in a flash of white light.

Valenti stepped forward in concern. "Where did my son go?" he asked.

"Help's on the way, Geoff," Bill spoke into his phone. "Oh okay, they're already there. Good." He listened to Geoff's description of what Kyle was saying and smiled. "Yes okay, I'll pass that on. Good luck and be careful."

Bill turned to Valenti. "Kyle's still adjusting to the whole teleporting thing, I think. He's saying, and I quote 'Get your hands off me, and keep your hands away from my father.' I think Kevin's got his hands full there."

"Where's my son?" Valenti repeated his question. "How do I know he's okay?"

Ami put a reassuring hand on him but he pulled away, looking uneasy, which Bill could understand. After all, Kyle had disappeared after Kevin had done the same thing.

"It's okay, sheriff." There was concern and not quite fear in the man's eyes. "Kyle wanted to help and so Kevin teleported him to London that's all. He's fine, just suffering a bit of aftershock from experiencing a teleport." She paused for a moment, and then grinned. "Kevin says he's still trying to come to grips that he's travelled to another country in the blink of an eye."

"Kevin says? What do you mean Kevin says? Kevin's in London…" He sat down at one of the tables. "Of course, why didn't I think of that before. You kids are telepaths aren't you?" Poor guy, even though he was working things out quickly, there was still a lot to take in.

"Good move Jade," said Michael sarcastically. "Go on, tell the sheriff all your secrets. After all that's what he's here for, to find out all about you…Ow!" Bill noticed the boy glare at Maria as she gave him a swift kick.

"Michael…" Maria began, exasperation sounding in her voice.

Bill interrupted before things got out of control. "Yes, that's right Sheriff. They are telepathic. Look I'm sure Kyle's okay. The first time you teleport it takes a bit of getting used to. I remember that only too well." He glanced at his watch again.

"I know you're worried about your son, but at the moment I'm more worried about mine. Masters made it only too clear what sort of things he'd do to Megabyte if I didn't make the meeting place. You guys can talk all you like but I'm going to make that meeting. Now can anyone tell me where the UFO centre is?" 

Valenti moved closer towards him and spoke quietly, so not to upset the young people in the room. "Bill, " he said, "Do you mind if I call you Bill?"

Bill shook his head. 

Valenti continued, "I know how you are feeling about your son. Hell, mine's just disappeared into thin air and I'm still dealing with that. I really don't think you're in any position to be making decisions at the moment, you're too worried. Think about it. What's meeting with this Masters going to achieve? It will just mean that he will have you as well as your son and the others. Don't think for a minute that Megabyte will be safe once you give in to this man. From my experience in this sort of thing…"

His experience? Bill felt his anger rise as the Sheriff repeated the phrase he had used earlier. He knew the sheriff was only trying to help but he had no idea what it was like living with a son who was a Tomorrow Person. Megabyte had gotten into so much trouble and danger over the last few years, and yet Bill had always dreaded the day when something like this would happen. Mad scientists and the like he could handle for some reason, but Masters? Bill sighed. Maybe it was because he somehow felt responsible that the man was still out there, that he had been able to get his hands on Megabyte in the first place.

Jade swayed and would have fallen if Alex hadn't caught her. Oh hell. What now? Don't tell me something else has happened? Bill was beginning to think he'd be lucky to get to the end of the day without losing his sanity. Well as long as it was just his sanity and not anyone he cared about, that would be fine.

"Kevin!" exclaimed Jade. "Something's happened to Kevin." 

Naturally. Something always happened to the Tomorrow People when they went to check something out. By now you'd think he would know better. Send the kid to help. Stupid move Damon, stupid move.

"Are you sure Jade? How do you know?" He tried not to think the worse. After all if Kevin was in trouble, what was happening to Millie, Geoff and Kyle?

Jade sat on the seat where Alex had led her to and looked up. She started to speak, but stopped, overcome with emotion.

Ami put her arm around her fellow Tomorrow Person, trying to comfort her. "Jade, are you okay?"

Jade nodded. "I guess I'm not as over that whole taser shooting thing as I thought I was."

Valenti looked at the two girls. "You said something's happened to Kevin? Did he tell you that?"

Ami paused. Bill felt himself grow cold. Every time Ami hesitated before replying to that sort of question, he knew bad news was coming. She probably wasn't sure how much she should tell the Sheriff. Still Kyle had been with Kevin, he would be worried about his son. "Kevin's unconscious, Sheriff. At least as far as we can tell. He's been hit by one of those taser weapons. Jade and I felt him get shot."

"Oh, great," groaned Bill. "That means that Masters' men must have him."

Valenti pushed for more information. "You mean you kids can pick up stuff like that from each other too? You said you felt him get shot. What do you mean by that exactly?" He's wondering what exactly he and his son have walked into. Poor guy.

"Exactly what Ami said," snapped Jade. "We felt the sensation of the taser shock as it went through him, well an echo of it anyway." She looked at Ami and blushed. "Sorry I snapped your head off, I'm worried about my friends."

"That's okay, Jade. I'm worried about them too," replied Valenti. He looked between the two girls. He had picked up on the fact they had used telepathy too. Quick study. I wonder if that's a good thing or not Bill thought, rising to his feet.

"I'm sorry Sheriff, but that's the clincher for me. If Masters has both my kids, I'm going to meet him. At this point in time I really don't care what happens to me, I'm more worried about keeping the kids safe. Even if meeting him just buys them some more time, it will be worth it."

"But …" Valenti opened his mouth to argue and then closed it again. Good. Bill wished the other man luck if he thought he was going to make him change his mind. He suspected Valenti was worried about his own son now, and that had given him a bit more of an insight to Bill's own state of mind. This was one of those situations where teleporting was a nightmare. The kids were so far away there was no way to get to them to help. Not unless you were a Tomorrow Person, and there was no way he was going to let Ami or Jade walk into the same trouble the others had.

"Now can anyone tell me where to find this UFO centre?" Bill demanded. "Or do I have to find it by myself?"

Liz stood up, her heart going out to the older man. "I'll show you," she offered.

"Then you're coming straight back," ordered Valenti, deciding it was time to take charge of the operation. "I don't want you kids to take any more chances, do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal…" said Michael. Maybe it was authority in general the kid had a problem with, judging by the tone in his voice.

Bill headed out the door of the Crashdown and followed Liz over to what he presumed must be the UFO centre. He glanced behind him as he did so, catching the beginning of Valenti's next statement.

"And that means Ami and Jade too." Valenti was trying to take charge alright, that was for certain. Good luck to him. He was going to need it.

********************** 

Part Thirteen

Kyle Valenti listened to the young red headed girl talking to the British boy, Kevin. Her boyfriend, Geoff, interrupted every few minutes, trying to explain what exactly he had thought he'd heard.

He took another gulp of water and tightened his grasp on the glass he was holding. This whole teleporting thing had totally freaked him out, but he was trying to give the impression that he was okay with the whole thing now. Judging by the looks Kevin kept giving him, he wasn't entirely sure he was succeeding. It wasn't natural being in one place one minute and another the next. Kyle hoped this whole experience wasn't going to affect him in some way. He still remembered enough of 'The Fly' to know what rearranging your molecules could do to a guy.

"Are you okay?" asked Kevin. 

"Yeah fine. I mean it's not everyday that I'm in Roswell one minute and London the next is it?"

Millie giggled. "You'll get used to it."

"You don't seriously mean I'm going to let him do that to me again do you? No way." Kyle studied his glass of water, feeling the coldness from the glass seep through into his fingers. What had she meant by that remark exactly? "Don't you think we should be looking for whoever might be snooping around out there?" He got to his feet, looking out the window to see if he could spot anything suspicious, pausing as something occurred to him. 

"Do you guys have any weapons? After all if we're going to go up against who knows what, shouldn't we be prepared for them or something?"

Millie shook her head. "Dad's got his revolver with him," she replied. "I don't know if he has anything else in the house. He didn't tell me, and Mom's not due back for ages."

Kyle turned to Kevin and Geoff. "What about you guys? Kevin, do you think you should pop back to Roswell and get something from my dad?" He mentally kicked himself. "I should have thought of that before we came, but we were here before I had the chance…if you know what I mean." The last comment was directed accusingly at Kevin.

"Sounds like a good plan to me," commented Geoff. "If the bad guys came in here with guns blazing, at least we'd be ready for them."

Kevin looked at both of them, an expression akin to horror on his face. "You can't, we can't…" he spluttered. "No guns. Definitely no guns."

"What's the matter?" asked Kyle. "You don't mean to tell me that you guys, with all your powers, are squeamish about stuff like that? Or are you telling me you don't need guns? What other cool powers do you have that I don't know about?"

Kevin rolled his eyes. "And we wonder why the psycho bad guys, as Megabyte calls them, keep coming after us. No Kyle, we don't have powers like the ones you are thinking about."

Kyle felt disappointed. "So what's the big problem with using guns then?"

"Don't you know?" Millie shot Kevin a glance. "You don't mean you didn't tell them?"

"Tell me what?" Kyle glanced between Millie and Kevin, certain he was missing something important. "Don't tell me there's a catch to these powers of yours."

"I wouldn't call it a catch exactly, " replied Kevin. He took a deep breath and got straight to the point. "We can't kill."

"Well, no one *likes * to kill. I remember this one time my father took me hunting. It was just a duck…"

"No Kyle, I mean exactly what I said. Tomorrow People can't kill. We can't, even the idea of it…" Kevin shuddered.

"Oh great," Kyle rolled his eyes. "Now he tells us. So Mr I Can't Kill, what do you suggest we do if the bad guys attack then? Run away?"

Before Kevin could reply, Kyle noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye and yelled, "Get down!" He dived for the floor as some sort of light beam hit Kevin full in the chest. The British boy went down without even a sound, lying in a crumpled heap on the carpet.

"Kevin!" screamed Millie.

"Nobody move," barked a tall man standing in the doorway brandishing a small hand weapon. "Unless you'd like to hit with the same thing as your friend, that is."

Kyle looked behind the man, adding up the number of weapons the other commando types had in total. At least he presumed they were commando types judging by the camouflage gear that they were all dressed in. He raised his hands, the universal signal for surrender.

"I think we'd better do as the man says," he told Millie and Geoff. At least for the time being, he continued to himself.

He could see the look on Geoff's face. The other boy looked angry, very angry. Kyle hoped he wasn't going to do anything stupid. He tried to send a look of reassurance to the boy, while at the same time desperately trying to remember what his dad had told him you were supposed to do in situations like this.

Geoff looked at the door and back again at Kevin lying motionless on the floor, looking pale in stark contrast against the dark carpet. He slowly raised his hands to match Kyle's. 

"You haven't killed him, have you?" Millie sounded very upset.

"Oh no, young lady," the dark haired man smirked. "Not yet, anyway." He reached into his pocket and spoke into his phone.

"Colonel Masters? We have them, sir. Yes sir, the Damon girl and a couple of others. Oh yes, and a bonus, I think one of the boys is another one of those teleporters. I disabled him with the taser weapon in case he got any bright ideas of disappearing." He gestured towards one of his companions who produced some photos which he laid out on the large coffee table in front of the dark green two-seater couch at the side of the room.

Kyle leaned over as far as he could with being obvious, and tried to get a look at them. The red headed boy must be Megabyte, Millie's brother. Completing the gallery were two more photos, one of Kevin and another of a dark girl whom Kyle had never seen before. They didn't have any of Ami, Jade or Adam he realised. He glanced again at the photos. Judging by what he could see these photos looked quite a bit out of date. Kevin looked very much younger than he did now. Probably Megabyte did too. Kyle wondered who the other girl was.

It certainly sounded as thought this Masters guy was after the Tomorrow People all right, with a vengeance. Kyle wondered if there was any way he might be able to get a warning to his dad in Roswell. Someone needed to warn Ami and Jade that they were in danger too.

Their captor speaking to his superior interrupted his train of thought. "Yes, it's definitely the other boy," he told the man at the other end of the phone, as he double checked his suspicions by examining the photo again. "As soon as you get the blond girl, whoever she is, we'll have them all apart, from the Davis girl."

*********

Alex turned away from the window he was looking out, and gestured to Michael. "Hey, what do you make of this?" he asked. "Looks as though Valenti's up to something."

Michael came over and glanced out quickly towards where Alex was pointing. "Wonder what he's playing at?" He could see the sheriff, sitting in his jeep carefully watching Damon waiting outside the UFO centre. As a black nondescript car pulled in next to Damon, Valenti slid down in the driver's seat, so that he wouldn't be seen.

Maria came up behind the two boys and peered over Michael's shoulder. "He's going to follow them," she exclaimed. "Won't that put Max and the others in danger though if he's found out?"

"Only if he's caught." Michael sounded annoyed. "Looks as though we'd better go keep an eye on him."

"Yeah, like that's going to help," put in Jade. "Maybe the sheriff's got the right idea. Has anyone thought of that? I mean we can't reach Megabyte and Adam telepathically, so how else are we going to find out where they are exactly so that we can rescue them. I know I didn't pick up enough from the flash to pin point their whereabouts, did anyone else?"

Ami shook her head. "Megabyte's flash was too weak. I could have maybe got something from Adam but whatever severed the transmission seemed to scramble that side of things too. I'm not sure why but I couldn't get a location of where they were at all." She tried to keep the worry out of her voice, but with not much success.

"Can you usually do that?" asked Liz. "You know, home in on where they are, that sort of thing?"

Ami nodded. "We've been able to in the past, not this time though. It's almost of though something is stopping us…"

Maria grabbed her coat and started for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Michael.

"Well, duh," she said. "Didn't you say something about keeping an eye on Valenti? I've got a car parked outside, makes sense that if we're going to follow him, we should do it now. After all if he's going now, so should we. You coming, Michael?"

"I'm coming too,' said Liz, with a look directed at Michael that said 'don't try and stop me.' "Ami, if you get anything, phone me. Alex's got the number. You can always do your teleporting thing if you need any of us. In the meantime Valenti and Megabyte's dad are going who knows where and we'll lose them if we don't hurry." 

The two girls paused at the threshold of the Crashdown and Maria gestured to Michael. He shrugged. "I'd better go and keep an eye on them." He shot a warning glance at Isabel. "Don't do anything without me. Remember this Masters creep and his goons are dangerous. They've already got Max and the others, we don't want them getting their hands on anyone else."

Isabel watched Michael and the two girls follow Valenti's vehicle from a discrete distance as he headed after the black sedan. She looked up at the night sky, watching the distant stars for a moment before seeming to come to a decision. She ran her hands through her long blond hair as she directed her question at the two Tomorrow People. "If you could find out where the boys are and could ask them what it was stopping their powers, that would help wouldn't it?" she asked.

Alex laid a warning hand on her shoulder. "Isabel, are you sure about this?" he asked.

"I can't just sit here wondering if I could help, and not doing anything," she replied.

Jade looked at Isabel and then Alex. "I don't get it. If we can't reach them, how would you be able to?" She was silent for a moment and then continued, a look of realisation on her face. "Kevin!" she exclaimed. "Kevin knew, that's why he kept looking at you. You're an alien too, just like Michael and Max." She blushed for a moment. "I thought that Kevin was only looking at you because he…er…um…forget I said that." Jade repeated her earlier statement quickly to hide her embarrassment. "You're an alien."

Isabel nodded. "Yes," she confirmed, "and I think I know of a way to reach them. I'm not sure it will work, as I've never done it when the other person's been awake before, but it's worth a try."

"Awake?" asked Ami, her mind ticking over. Isabel an alien? She kicked herself mentally. How could she have missed that? As Jade had said, Kevin had obviously worked it out, even though the two of them had missed it. Maybe the girl's natural mental shielding was stronger than Michael's. Yes maybe that was it. Still now wasn't the time to worry about that, if she could reach Adam and Megabyte…Ami was trying very hard not to think about what could be happening to her two friends.

"She dreamwalks," explained Alex. "Isabel can go into other people's dreams, and talk to them." He moved closer towards the tall blond girl and Ami wondered if there was some kind of relationship between the two of them. After all he certainly seemed very protective of his friend.

"As I said, I'm not sure it would work. I've only really dreamwalked other people while they've been asleep," Isabel said.

"What if we added our powers?" asked Ami. "Contacting other people while they're asleep, through their dreams, sounds as though it might be on some sort of psychic level. It can't hurt."

"But our powers aren't psychic." Isabel paused and thought for a moment. "At least I don't think they are. I'm willing to give it a try though, if you guys are."

"Well, we've got to do something," reasoned Jade. "I'm going crazy sitting here thinking about what could be happening to Megabyte…and the others." She blushed for the second time in as many minutes, and Ami knew she was wondering if anyone had noticed that Megabyte's welfare was obviously her main concern.

"We're worried about them too, Jade," Ami shot the younger girl a smile, sensing her embarrassment. When they rescued their friends, she was going to sit down and have a very long talk to Megabyte she decided. It was becoming very obvious to everyone but the redhead exactly how Jade felt about him. Her mental shields tended to slip a bit at times, especially when her emotions ran high, Ami had noticed. Even though the young American was a Tomorrow Person, and with that supposedly able to pick up on the thoughts and feelings of his fellow telepaths, there were still a lot of times where he seemed totally unaware of what exactly was going on around him.

************

Part Fourteen

"So Masters has emailed this Trent, whoever he is, all the information he has about the Tomorrow People?"

"I think that's what I just finished saying, Megabyte," commented Adam. "At least that's what I'm presuming from the conversation I overheard in Masters' office."

"So when we escape, it might be a good idea to make a short stop and wipe Masters computer along the way? Once I've ditched this band, I'll do so much damage to the creep's computer he'll wonder what's hit him."

Max looked at Megabyte, wondering exactly what the older boy's powers were. "Won't that take a while though?" he asked. "Wouldn't it better to just worry about getting out of here, and deal with the whole computer problem later?"

Megabyte smirked. "Once I lose the headband, I only need a minute or so and his hard drive will be dust." He frowned. "Doesn't solve the problem of this Trent guy though, but at least it will slow Masters down."

"There should be a record of where he sent the information to though, shouldn't there?" pointed out Adam.

"Yeah, true. I'll get that first, then dust the drive. Shouldn't slow things now by too much."

"Dust?" commented Adam. "Why do I get the feeling you've been watching Buffy again?"

Max felt it was time to put his two cents worth in. "Guys, I don't know if you've noticed but I think the more immediate problem is getting out of here. We can worry about the computer stuff later."

"Sorry, Megabyte tends to get a bit carried away when he gets onto the subject of computers," explained Adam.

"So…" Max paused as he thought he heard something or rather someone. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He noticed both Adam and Megabyte staring at him, concern on their faces.

"Thought I heard…" There it was again. Max looked around the room and blinked. Standing in the corner was Isabel, a very faint Isabel, but still clear enough for him to make out.

"Isabel?"

*************

Masters looked up as General Damon was shown into his office. "Put away your gun, Hawkins," he told the young man in front of him. "General Damon is our guest here, aren't you General?"

Damon looked as though he was trying to contain his anger, though not too successfully as he glared up at his host. "Where's my son?" he demanded. "You'd better not have hurt him or the others, Masters."

Masters tried to smooth over the situation. "Your son and his friends are quite safe for the moment," he said reassuringly. "I'm only trying to do what's best for them, you know."

Damon didn't look very convinced. "So kidnapping them and experimenting on them is for their own good? Masters, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you're crazy."

Masters felt shocked by the other man's comments. He gestured for him to take a seat, and when he refused, waited for Hawkins to convince him to co-operate. "I would have thought that as a parent you would only want what's best for your child. Do you really think that he has a future as one of these…Tomorrow People?" Masters tried hard not to spit the last couple of words out. Even the name these non-humans called themselves made him sick to his stomach. "Don't you want him to able to be normal again?"

"If being normal is being like you, you can keep it." Damon gingerly touched the growing lump on the back of his head as he spoke.

Masters tried to ignore the look his former colleague was giving him. Obviously the man didn't understand what was really going on here. He seemed to be under some illusion that there was nothing wrong with his son, nothing wrong with having these powers. It was up to him, Masters, to put the man right. He had to explain to him that there was still hope for the human race, that they didn't have to become the genetic abnormalities that Megabyte, Adam and the rest of the Tomorrow People had become. Didn't the man understand about the importance of keeping the human race pure, of keeping the gene pool untainted?

"Don't you understand?" he asked Damon. "I've found a way to remove their powers. Without their powers they will be human again, fit to live in the world, share its resources."

"The Tomorrow People are more human than you'll ever be, Masters," replied Damon. "Their powers make them special, they're the future of humanity. They have just as much right to live in this world as the rest of us. What gives you the right to tamper with evolution?"

"What gives me the right?" asked Masters, trying to conceal his shock at Damon's attitude. "At least I'm trying to do the right thing for the human race, which is more than I can say for you. I can't understand how you could wish such a …curse on your own child." He placed a couple of computer print outs in front of his guest. 

"Okay, so you've been running blood tests," commented Damon. "And this is supposed to impress me, how?"

Masters tried not to show his exasperation. How this man ever got to the rank of General was beyond him. "Don't you see," he explained, keeping his voice calm and speaking slowly so that Damon could understand. "There's not much difference between their DNA and ours. A slight genetic marker, here…" He indicated to a couple of points on the graph, "and here. Plus another couple of differences here and here. I'm confident that I can reverse those abnormalities given time and restore them to the way they were before they became infected."

"I think the Tomorrow People are quite happy the way they are," pointed out Damon. "Personally, I'm quite happy the way they are too. What gives you right to play God?" He stopped for a moment before continuing. "You said before that you have found a way to remove their powers. What have you done to them? If you've hurt them in any way, I swear I'll kill you myself, with my bare hands if I have to."

Masters sighed. Obviously the whole parenting instinct was still alive and well, even though his son was a freak of nature. It proved one theory though. Love was blind. Totally blind in this case.

Masters lost his train of thought as he realised Damon was still speaking.

"Masters are you listening to me? Where's my son? I want to see him, now."

"Aren't you forgetting something here General? You're my guest here, not the other way round. Your son is quite safe, as are his friends. It's a shame about the Evans boy though." He shook his head sadly. "His DNA is just so different from ours, so alien. There's no way to save him. Your son and Adam were fortunate that their 'problem' was caught in time, before it advanced to the point where treatment was no longer an option. I regret the fact I didn't learn about the other one in time to save him. He'll just have to be put down before he can cause any permanent problems."

Damon suddenly became silent, giving Masters a look he decided it would be better to ignore.

Masters gestured to the screen on his desk, motioning to Damon to watch as he turned it on and flicked the volume control. Evans was talking to his companions he noticed, catching the end of the conversion.

"It's my sister Isabel. I can see her, hear her. Can't you?"

Masters flicked another switch on his desk. "Beckett, get in there, quickly. Evans is using his powers somehow to contact another non-human. Stop him!"

He turned again to Damon. "It looks as though you may get to see your son sooner than you thought." He rose to his feet and headed for the door of his office. "Well, aren't you coming?" he asked.

*********

"Max, are you okay?" Isabel sounded very concerned. She paused, almost as though she was getting information from somewhere or someone. "Adam and Megabyte? Are they okay too?"

"Yeah, we're fine, for the moment. Isabel, how?" Max frowned, ignoring the stares he was getting from his companions. He knew this must be some kind of dreamwalking, but he didn't think Isabel could do this to anyone unless they were asleep.

"Max, what's going on?" Adam wanted to know. The Australian sounded concerned, very concerned.

"It's my sister, Isabel. I can see her, hear her. Can't you?"

Adam and Megabyte shook their heads.

"She must be concentrating her effects on me then." That made sense. Max doubted that Isabel would be able to dreamwalk more than one person at a time. After all, he hadn't thought she could do what she was doing now.

Max realised that Isabel was talking again. "Ami and Jade are helping me," she explained. She faded out and then in again. "We'd better be quick, I'm not sure how long we can keep this going. I keep losing you." Isabel continued quickly. "What's stopping Adam and Megabyte from using their powers? Will it affect the others?"

"Masters has fitted these headband things. We're not sure how but they work like a feedback circuit when we try and use our powers."

"Our powers?"

"Yeah, he's convinced I'm a Tomorrow Person, for some reason." Max wasn't going to tell Isabel that he had used his powers in front of Masters. He reasoned that she had enough worries without adding to them.

"Have you got any idea where you are?" Isabel wanted to know.

"I was unconscious when I was brought here but…"

"We're in an old factory on the outskirts of town." Adam interrupted Max. He and Megabyte had been following Max's side of the conversation and he'd obviously worked out what Isabel had been asking. 

Before Max could reply, the door to their prison burst open. Beckett was first into the room, a couple of men carrying guns right behind him.

"Shut up. Shut up now." As Beckett pointed his gun at Max, Adam moved in placing himself between the weapon and the young alien.

"Max!" Max heard his sister scream his name as she faded from view, the link broken. He hoped she had heard enough to know where they were being held, but at the same time realised that now she had that information she would probably act on it. His heart sank. Isabel, stay away he thought to himself. It's not worth the risk.

"Now, now, Mr Beckett. I'm sure our young friends have realised that we know they were trying to contact another of their kind." Masters frowned as he entered the room. "Obviously the silencer bands don't work as well as we had hoped. It sounds as though I had better do some more testing after all." He turned and spoke to one of his men out in the hallway. "Show in our other visitor," he ordered. "This is going to be rather interesting, I think."

Max heard a sharp intake of breath from Megabyte as an older dark haired man walked through the door. The two Tomorrow People looked at each other, their expressions grim.

"Say hello to your father, Megabyte," said Colonel Masters. "It's a shame this family reunion is going to be so short isn't it?"

**********************

Part Fifteen

"Lucky for you, I can't kill," complained Megabyte under his breath as he watched the look of disgust Masters was giving his father.

"Megabyte…" hissed his father warningly.

Masters' ears seemed to visibly prick up. "You can't kill?" he said in a smooth voice that made Megabyte's skin crawl. "You really expect me to believe you can't kill?"

Adam stepped between Masters and his fellow Tomorrow Person, shooting his friend a warning glance as he did so. "Don't you think it's about time you did away with all the cloak and dagger?" he told Masters. "You've got the advantage here, I think we all know that. What do you want with us exactly? You know these headbands work. Now what?"

"Yeah right, Adam," said Megabyte. "That's telling him. I'm sure he's gonna come right out and tell us now, isn't he?"

"Megabyte, shut up," hissed Adam.

Masters looked at the two Tomorrow People and smiled, though Megabyte noticed his eyes seemed to become brighter as he spoke. Must be the whole loony tunes attitude coming out he decided. "If you have something to say Marmaduke, say it. I'm very interested to hear about this whole non-killing thing."

Crap. Something else to add to the list of things he shouldn't have said while being held captive by a bad guy. "Yeah right. And what difference is it going to make? I tell you all about it and you let us go? Like I'm gonna believe that one." Megabyte tried to ignore the looks his father was sending his way. His dad didn't really need telepathy, he'd decided a long time ago. The look in his eyes spoke volumes whenever he told his kids off or was concerned about them.

"So you're telling me that you didn't shoot me all those years ago because you aren't capable of killing? Is that it?" Masters laughed, and then reached inside his jacket pocket for a handkerchief and proceeded to wipe his eyes. 

Does that creep ever wear anything but a suit? Megabyte felt his cheeks turning hot as he tried to ignore the anger rising up within him. "Why do you think I never killed you when I had the chance? Don't you think I would have if I could?" Cool it Damon. No point losing it now. 

"You tell me." Masters still had that smug look on his face, that look which said he wasn't buying it. For some reason the man had the idea stuck in his brain that the Tomorrow People were a threat.

"He is trying to tell you Masters," Damon told his former associate. "But you're refusing to listen. The Tomorrow People aren't a threat. They're peaceful, they're just trying to survive, trying to survive people like you."

"General Damon's right." Adam was wasting his time even talking to Masters, of that Megabyte was becoming more and more sure. "We can't kill you, we're no threat to you. Why don't you believe that?"

"Because I know better," replied Masters. "I realised I was lucky all those years ago in the fact that your friend here was young and afraid, but time moves on. You are now older and with each passing day growing more and more dangerous. You and the rest of your kind are more of a threat to the safety of mankind than you ever were."

"Get real Masters," Damon had a tone of disgust in his voice. "They're still only kids. They're no threat, none at all. The only threat to the human race I can see in this room is you. You're so tied up in what you *think * is true you couldn't see the truth if it came up and hit you in the face. It's people like you who are dangerous, not the Tomorrow People."

You tell him Dad, thought Megabyte surprised at the surge of pride he felt for his father. He'd never heard his dad actually put his thoughts about the Tomorrow People into words before, and especially not to someone like Masters. He'd also never seen him coming this close to losing his temper in public either. 

Megabyte reached out and laid a hand on his father's shoulder. Cool it Dad. Damon turned and looked at him and then back at Masters, ready to add more to his previous statement when Max moved forward, and looked Masters squarely in the eyes.

"If you want someone to pick on, " the young alien said. "Try me. I'm the one you caught trying to contact someone else, not them." The way he spoke, it reminded Megabyte of Adam when he went into 'protective mode.'

Damon shook his head and pulled Max away. "Don't give him any ideas," he advised. "Masters has enough on his own without you adding to them."

"One can never have too many ideas." Masters gestured to Beckett who was standing in front of the heavy wooden door leading out of the room. "Could you tell Dr Brooke-Smythe that his services are required, please? I've decided to try a little experiment to test this whole non- killing debate. Can you kill or can you not, that is the question." He paused momentarily. "Oh yes and Beckett? Inform the good doctor that young master Damon here has kindly volunteered to test the theory for us. The results should be quite…interesting."

***********

Valenti ducked behind the large tree overhanging the entrance to the old factory. He glanced at his watch. Damon had been in there now for at least ten minutes. Now might be a good time to send for back up of some sort. But what exactly could he tell his deputy, he wondered? Some madman has kidnapped some kids to get back at an old enemy? Yes that might do it.

He unclipped his phone from his belt and started to punch in the number of the sheriff's office when he heard a noise behind him. Blast! He spun around, disengaging the safety on his revolver as he did so.

"Michael, what the hell are you doing here? Correction. What the hell are you, Maria and Liz doing here? I though I told you to stay put."

"Right," snapped Michael. "Like I was going to sit back and watch you get Max killed. Get real."

"I had the situation under control," Valenti started to say, wondering why he felt he had to explain himself to a bunch of kids anyway. He saw what looked like a couple of bright lights out of the corner of his eye and jumped as they solidified into Ami, Jade, Isabel and Alex.

"Bring the whole gang," he groaned. Wonder if Bill has this sort of thing going on all the time, he mused to himself briefly. No wonder the poor guy was jumpy if he had kids appearing out of thin air in front of him while he was trying to do his job.

"Megabyte, Adam and Max are in there," exclaimed Jade excitedly. "We've come to help rescue them."

"And how do we know they are in there Jade?" asked Valenti. "I thought you said you couldn't use your powers to contact them?"

"Isabel…" Jade started to say, then stopped. She looked at Isabel and then at Ami. Isabel looked upset, in fact Valenti wondered if she had been crying.

"Isabel had an idea where they might be," finished Ami hurriedly." So we decided to come and check it out. Looks as though she was right, if you're here too."

Valenti pushed his suspicions to the back of his mind. Now was definitely not the time to discuss the weird stuff that went on in his town concerning Max Evans. He knew there was something weird about that kid. Maybe these Tomorrow People had been able to contact him somehow using their powers, when they hadn't been able to contact their fellow telepaths? This whole thing is beginning to sound like something out of a science fiction novel.

"Now that you're here I suppose." Valenti eyed the group of kids in front of him. "Michael you come with me. I want Alex to stay here with the girls. Ami, have you got any idea where exactly Masters might be holding them?"

Ami shook her head. "If I could get into Masters' office though maybe we could find out what he's planning from there."

"He might have his plans on his hard drive," Alex suggested. "Could you take me with you and I'll have a look while we're hunting for the guys?"

Valenti put his foot down. "No. That sounds too dangerous to me. No offence, Ami, but I think from what you've told me that this Masters would love to get his hands on the rest of you. You'd be safer staying here with the others. That goes for you too, Alex."

"But…" Maria started to protest but stopped as Liz shot her a look. "Come back in one piece, then. Okay?"

Sensible girl, that Liz Parker, thought Valenti. It's a shame she and Kyle aren't still together. Kyle. Valenti tried to push that thought out of his mind too. One thing at a time. First he'd rescue Max and the others, then maybe they could help rescue Kyle and Kevin in London.

Michael looked around the perimeter again. "You coming?" he asked Valenti. "Cause I'm going *now *." He glanced towards the gate and before Valenti could stop him crept along the outside of the surrounding wall, taking care to hide in the shadows.

"Sheriff!" exclaimed Liz. 

"What is it, Liz? What's wrong?"

"Sorry, thought I saw something. Must be my imagination. You'd better go, Michael's waiting. We'll be fine, promise."

Valenti followed the path Michael had taken and in under a minute was standing by the teenager next to the gate to the complex. To his amazement Michael touched the gate and it swung open.

"Must have forgotten to lock it." The teenager commented.

Valenti grasped his gun firmly with his right hand, and led the way into the complex. Hope like hell they don't see us coming he thought. Looks as though surprise is probably the only advantage we have here. What was he thinking going in by himself, with only a teenager for backup? Hopefully they could sneak in and out before Masters even realised that they'd been there. 

He looked back at the group of kids standing where he had left them and thought he saw a flash of bright light. That better be my imagination, he thought grimly, hoping that instead of the rescue attempt they were planning, he hadn't just delivered more Tomorrow People to Masters on a platter.

*********

Part Sixteen

"Do you think they're going to be okay in there?" Maria asked Liz for about the tenth time. "I don't see why we had to stay out here while everyone else is risking their lives."

"Someone had to stay behind to call for help if something goes wrong, Maria. Think about it. Ami and Jade can teleport, and Isabel has her powers."  
  
"Yeah but what about Alex? He can't just disappear into thin air if they get caught."  
  
"Ami promised that she would look after him, remember? Besides I think they need to use his computer skills if they want to find out exactly what this Masters guy is up to."

"Liz, have you thought about what exactly we are going to say if we do have to call in the cavalry?"

Liz shook her head. She was really, really hoping it wouldn't come to that. She brushed her long dark hair back off her face as she remembered what Isabel had told them about Max and the others. "Max, you've got to be okay," she whispered to herself. Maybe if she told herself that often enough he would be. After all she didn't dare explore the alternative, at least not yet, hopefully not ever.

***********

Megabyte felt the room spin, as Brooke-Smythe removed the silencer band. He sat down on the cot behind him for a moment, trying to get his bearings. 

"Megabyte, are you okay?" He could hear the concern in his dad's voice as he spoke. 

"Yeah fine, Dad. Must be some sort of side effect from this band thing." The room stopped spinning and Megabyte stood up again, trying to ignore the look Brooke-Smythe was giving him. The guy thinks of us as some kind of scientific guinea-pigs he realised, not as actual people. He looked over to where his father, Adam and Max were standing and then again at Masters. Even though he could now teleport there was no way he'd be fast enough to get all three of them out. Besides he didn't think he could teleport three people in one go anyway.

"Thinking clearly now?" asked Masters. "To run the test properly I've decided it's preferable if you have your powers returned to you…at least for the moment."

Now his powers were back on line Megabyte could feel the revulsion the man was feeling towards him and his friends. Yeah, like I really needed to feel that, he thought. Maybe I should try and contact the others? And bring them into all this? Not one of your brighter ideas. Megabyte deliberately raised his mental shields so that none of his fellow Tomorrow People would be able to contact him. Sorry, guys. I'm doing the right thing here…I hope.

"I'll take it from your lack of response that the answer is yes then, shall I?" Masters motioned to Beckett, who placed something in Megabyte's hand.

Megabyte looked down and shivered. What the hell was Masters up to now? What was he trying to pull giving him a gun? Masters knew that he wouldn't be able to use it. Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap! Megabyte tried to ignore the cold feeling of fear that was spreading through him as he remembered the man's earlier words. 'Can you kill or can you not, that is the question.'

"So, as well as being crazy, you've got a death wish?" Megabyte pointed the gun at Masters, trying to ignore the fact that his hand was shaking. Acting had never been one of his strong points but it was the only thing he could think of to do. Would Masters buy that he would be able to shoot him? What would happen if the creep called his bluff?

"What are you waiting for Megabyte? You either shoot me or you don't? I don't have all day to sit around while you think about it. Come on, pull the trigger."

"Okay, you asked for it." Megabyte pointed the gun squarely at Masters, trying not to remember the last time he'd done this. Even though his shields were quite strong, the redhead could still feel the hate coming from the man. He felt an image of himself, much younger, pointing a gun at Masters brush past his mind. Obviously he wasn't the only one who remembered the incident from seven years ago. For him to pick up Masters' surface thoughts like that, there must be a hell of a lot of hate and raw emotion behind them.

Megabyte tried to pull the trigger. 

He tried to pull the trigger.

Tried to pull the trigger.

He lowered the gun

"Always a downside to having special powers," he muttered. "Why is there always a downside?" Megabyte caught Adam's eye. The Australian knew more than anyone else in the room what he was going through. Yeah, okay he knew that they were the future of mankind and all that, and that the fact they couldn't kill was a good thing. At times like this though, he had his doubts. How were they going to survive when they couldn't defend themselves?

"Okay, Masters, you win. I can't kill you. Happy now?" Megabyte dropped the gun onto the floor by his feet and waited to see what would happen next.

"On the contrary, all this proves is that you are either being obstinate and not co- operating or showing yourself as the coward you probably are."  


Megabyte stared at Masters. This guy was nutzoid. What was it going to take to get through to him? Surely he must realise that if Tomorrow People could kill, he'd be well and truly dead by now? He tried to ignore the comment about being a coward. Masters was obviously just trying to provoke him. Trying? Well it was working. If it wasn't for the Tomorrow People can't kill thing…No, make that can't kill *problem *…Masters would be one dead nutzoid. Megabyte struggled to keep his self control and not say anything that would aggravate the guy further.

"Hey what are you doing?" Megabyte noticed Beckett and one of his goons move in and restrain his father and Adam, bringing them over closer to Masters.

"Well what happens next is entirely up to you Megabyte," explained Masters. "I've decided to…up the ante a bit…I think the term is." He raised his own revolver and pointed it firstly at Damon and then at Adam.

No! The guy couldn't be serious. "I can't kill you!" Megabyte felt like screaming his answer. "Don't you understand. I can't. Don't you think I would if I could? You…psycho."

"Pick up the gun, Megabyte." Masters' voice was calm, but it did nothing to decrease the turmoil and panic Megabyte felt going through his own mind.

"He's telling the truth, Masters," Adam tried to reason with their captor. "Tomorrow People can't kill."

Masters ignored him and continued on. "Pick up the gun, Megabyte," he repeated his last statement. "It's simple, really. You shoot me or I'll kill your father and your friend." He pointed to first Damon and then Adam. "Oh and I wouldn't take too long either." He glanced at his watch. "Now, who do you think should die first? Tick tock, tick tock….Pick up the gun, or I'll shoot them now!"

Megabyte bent over and picked up the gun lying at his feet. He could feel the anger rising up within him and was surprised that there was room in his mind for it, with the degree of panic that was setting in. 

"Oh yes, one more thing before I forget. If you teleport yourself to safety and show yourself for the coward I know you are, I'll shoot them both anyway. Come on, make your decision. I'm waiting…"

***********

Ami leaned over Alex's shoulder as he settled himself down in front of the computer in Masters' office. She glanced over her shoulder, frowning as she did so.

"What's wrong, Ami? Is there someone coming?" Alex punched commands into the keyboard, watching the results come up on the small screen as he spoke.

"Don't think so. I thought I heard Megabyte…but it's gone now. Must have been my imagination. I've tried contacting him and can't get a reply. Besides if those headbands things work as Max told Isabel they did, it couldn't have been him." Ami frowned, trying to fight the growing feeling of panic that was rising up within her. Why was she feeling like this? She was about to telepath to Jade to ask her if she was feeling the same way when a comment from Alex brought her back to the reason they were there with a bang.

"Masters has been sending information about the Tomorrow People to some guy called Simon Trent," Alex observed. "Do you know who he is?"

Ami shook her head. "Never heard the name before." She handed him one of the blank CDs that they had found in a drawer in the office minutes before. "Copy all the information onto this and we'll look at it later once we get the guys to safety."

Alex started to read some of the information out loud as the computer began to transfer the data. "He mentions a couple of other names. Have you heard of James Horton or Joe Dawson?"

Ami started to shake her head again, but stopped as she heard a noise behind them.

"I'd be surprised if you had." A young man, maybe ten years older than either Ami or Alex, with bleached blond hair, was pointing a gun at them. "Move away from the computer please, nice and slowly."

*************

Part Seventeen

Jade stopped suddenly, causing Isabel to almost run into her. 

"What's the matter, Jade?" Isabel could see the concern on the face of her companion. She hoped Alex and Ami weren't in trouble. As she waited for Jade's reply Isabel thought she heard someone coming. She hid behind a pile of empty crates in the middle of the room they were in, and gestured for Jade to be quiet. A couple of minutes later a young man with bleached blonde hair walked past, heading somewhere in a hurry. Isabel shivered. This place gave her the creeps. All the rooms seemed to be half dark, the small windows in each room not giving much natural light.

Jade seemed very jumpy. "I thought I heard Megabyte,' she explained. "Isabel, I'm scared. I keep feeling as though I want to run away and hide in a corner somewhere. Does that make sense?"

Isabel thought for a moment. "Do you mean like a panic attack or something? I knew a girl at school who used to get them. That's the way she described the feeling."

Jade nodded. "I don't feel…" She stopped mid sentence and then continued, twirling her long hair around her fingers nervously. "Maybe the feeling isn't mine. Maybe it's someone else's feelings I'm picking up on."

Isabel was curious. "Can you guys do that?"

"Yeah, sometimes we can pick up on what the other Tomorrow People are feeling." She frowned. "It can't be Megabtye or Adam though. That headband thing that Max told you about, it's supposed to stop them using their powers, isn't it?"

"That's what he said," confirmed Isabel. She could still remember how worried Max had seemed, even though he'd tried to hide it from her. The way she'd lost the connection so suddenly too…that was something she was trying very hard to put out of her mind. Unfortunately she didn't seem to be succeeding very well.

"Could you try and contact whoever you are getting these feelings from?" she asked Jade. "Maybe it is Megabyte. Didn't you say you'd heard him before? Maybe they've found some way to get those bands off."

"Okay." Jade closed her eyes, and Isabel could see her frown as she began to concentrate, reaching out telepathically for the source of the 'signal.'

************

"Who are you?" asked Alex. He rose to his feet, so that his back was to the computer, hiding the information flashing on the screen. Silly thing to ask a man holding a gun he realised, but he thought maybe it might buy them some time and distract the man so that Ami could teleport them out.

"Are you one of these Tomorrow People?" asked the man.

Ami and Alex looked at each other. "Yes, I am," Ami answered.

"Ami…" Alex shot her a warning look.

"Don't worry, Alex. I have the feeling he knows who we are anyway."

"I'm Gil Hawkins," the man introduced himself. "Yes I do know about your kind and don't worry, I am on your side." Hawkins lowered his gun. "I'm beginning to get the feeling that maybe we should start working together. After seeing what Masters has planned for your friends, I'm thinking that it's only a matter of time before he loses it completely and does something we all regret."

"Why should we trust you?" asked Alex. "You came in here with a gun remember?" He reached behind him and slid the burnt disc out of the computer and put it into his pocket. He saw Hawkins' eyes following his movements but the man didn't comment. Another reason not to trust the guy, Alex thought. Judging from his earlier remarks it sounded as though he had a good idea what they had just downloaded anyway.

"I work for an organisation that is worried about some of the company Masters is keeping," Hawkins started to explain. "I've been sent here to find out what he has planned and what exactly his relationship with Simon Trent is."

"What organisation?" asked Ami.

"I'm not at liberty to share that information."

"Yeah right." Alex didn't feel very terribly impressed by that comment. "What's your proof? I mean how do we know this isn't a trap or you're really working for someone like the FBI or something sinister we haven't even heard of."

"I'm hardly likely to be carrying ID if I'm working undercover am I?" As Hawkins reached over to see what Alex and Ami had been looking at on the computer, Alex noticed a strange blue trefoil shaped tattoo on the man's wrist. 

***********

Small beads of perspiration were forming on Masters' face as his eyes flickered between Megabyte's face and the gun in his hand. Masters was beginning to lose patience. What was it going to take to make the man understand? "I … can't …shoot… you." As Megabyte repeated the words again, he glanced at the small revolver in his hand, trying to ignore the disgust he was feeling towards the weapon.

[Megabyte?]

Jade? What was she doing here? There was no way he was going to let any of the other Tomorrow People get involved in this mess. Especially not Jade. Megabyte checked his mental shields again. Hell, they were slipping, he was losing control. He gritted his teeth and tried again to bring his emotions back under tight reign. If he wasn't careful he'd be acting as a beacon and drawing Jade, Ami and Kevin straight to them.

Masters snorted in disgust. "Maybe I should shoot them anyway?" He seemed to reconsider for a moment. "Obviously, you were wrong about these Tomorrow People, Damon. You referred to them as the future of mankind. What kind of future are they if they can't even defend their friends?"

"A better future than mankind all turning out like you," snapped Megabyte.

"I've just about had enough of your cheek, boy," Masters had completely lost the calm exterior he had been trying to project up to a few moments before. "I'm going to enjoy this next part of the experiment, in fact I'm now rather looking forward to it."

Masters spun around so that his gun was pointing squarely at Megabyte. "You say you can't kill to save your friends. What about to save yourself?"

"Masters, you can't be serious." Damon started to struggle against the man holding him.

"I'm perfectly serious. Oh and by the way, if Megabyte teleports, I won't hesitate to kill you and Adam. So you'd better pray your son does the right thing."

Megabyte felt sick. What sort of a choice was that? Being a Tomorrow Person, it wasn't a choice at all. "I'm sorry," he said shooting a look of apology at his father and Adam. He saw Max start forward, only to be stopped by a large man holding a taser weapon.

Megabyte watched Masters' finger squeeze on the trigger and waited for the bullet to strike him…

The sound of the gun going off was a flat crack, hardly more than a balloon popping. A second pop followed just an instant later. This noise came with a flash of light far brighter than the muzzle of a gun could produce.

Then Jade was standing in the room.

"Jade!" Megabyte heard a half-strangled cry and realised he'd made the sound himself. He felt himself fall backwards as Jade fell into his arms, propelled by the momentum of the bullet as it entered her body. 

She gazed up at him and then down at the growing red stain on her chest. "I …found …you," she said as he struggled to rise to a kneeling position and cradled her head on his lap.

Masters stood there staring, almost in shock. He lowered the gun.

Max broke free of his captor and dived for the gun that Megabyte had dropped in the confusion. He pointed the weapon at Masters before Beckett or his men could stop him and fired, aiming for the gun in Masters' hand.

There was a clicking noise, but nothing happened.

He pulled the trigger again.

Still nothing.

Megabyte turned towards Masters. "The gun wasn't even loaded. You put us through all that and the gun wasn't even loaded?" He felt sick. 

[Megabyte?] Jade 'pathed. He could feel her psychic presence slipping away from him even as she 'spoke.'

[Yeah, kid, I'm here.]

[Hold me, Megabyte. I'm scared. Why is the room going round? What's that red stuff all over me?] She looked down at herself, and then up again at her fellow Tomorrow Person, her eyes widening in fear as she realised the seriousness of what had happened.

[Hold on, Jade, hold on.] Megabyte reached out for her telepathically, trying to hold back the tears he could feel welling up within him. He thought back to all the years he had known her, all the years he'd ran away from the way he felt about her.

[I knew you… had …feelings… for… me] Jade closed her eyes and he felt her go limp in his arms.

***************

Ami gasped. "No," she whispered, ignoring the glances Alex and Hawkins were giving her.

"What's the matter? What's wrong? I'm not going to hurt you, I've already told you that." Hawkins turned away from the computer, concern showing on his face. He must be only in his mid-twenties, Ami realised, seeing his features soften as he spoke.

"He's shot Jade. He's shot Jade." Ami kept repeating the phrase, trying to convince herself that what she was picking up wasn't true.

"Who?" asked Alex.

"Masters?" Hawkins spoke almost simultaneously.

[Jade?] Ami sent a telepathic call out to the younger girl.

[Ami?] Ami was shocked to feel the raw emotion in Megabyte's telepathic voice. [Jade's…Jade's been shot. Ami, she looks as though she's going to die.] To her surprise Ami could also feel guilt coming from her fellow Tomorrow Person.

[Megabyte, hang on. We'll be there as soon as we can, okay?]

Ami turned to Hawkins and Alex. "Jade's badly hurt and Megabyte needs our help." 

Adam? What about Adam and Max? Ami realised that she hadn't asked Megabyte about them. Come to think of it, why could she hear Megabyte but not Adam? She wondered what had been happening to her friends….Still Jade was the one to concentrate on at the moment. Megabyte hadn't mentioned Adam so he must be okay, at least for now.

Alex rose to his feet, his face suddenly contorting with fear. "Isabel!" he exclaimed. "Isabel was with Jade…"

************

Adam watched Jade fall, a sick feeling welling up inside him. He pulled himself free of the man holding him, not caring about the consequences. As he knelt down on the floor beside his friends, Adam saw Damon staring at his son cradling Jade in his arms. The look on Damon's face as he turned towards Masters was one he'd never expected to see on the man. It was one of pure hatred. Adam could see the fine hold the man had been using to keep his emotions in check, snap.

Damon threw himself at Masters, pulling the gun the man was holding from his grasp as he did so. He stood over Masters, aiming the weapon directly at him.

Adam saw Beckett and the others bring their weapons to bear on Damon, but Masters gestured for him to put them down.

"I'm sorry," he started to say but Damon silenced him with a glare.

"You're sorry? You're even crazier than I thought if you expect me to believe that. Sorry for what exactly? Sorry for kidnapping my son and then trying to torture him by making him do something he's not capable of? Sorry for trying to run down my daughter and then sending your goons after her? Sorry for…shooting Jade?"

Damon raised the gun at Masters and pulled the trigger.

"No!" exclaimed Adam. "General Damon, you can't."

A shot rang out, reverberating across the room and Masters collapsed in a heap on the floor.

As Adam's mind tried to process what had just happened, Masters looked up at Damon, disbelief showing in his eyes. "You don't know what you've done," he told the other man. "I was their only hope. Who's going to save them now?" He gave Megabyte's father a look that could only be described as pity as his head rolled back and he lay still. 

Adam looked down at Jade lying in Megabyte's arms and back again at Damon who was standing over the body, obviously in shock. A feeling of helplessness rose up within him as he realised he didn't know what to do. I'm supposed to take charge here, he told himself. Instead he felt himself freeze as he looked at the results of the horror that had enfolded in front of him only moments before. Some leader you are. You're supposed to know what to do and what to say. Instead you're just sitting here watching one of your friends die.

Adam turned towards the door, his thoughts interupted by the sound of footsteps. A man about the same age as Damon, rushed through the open door, followed by a teenage boy. 

"Michael!" exclaimed Max.

Beckett raised his gun.

"Put down the gun," warned the older newcomer. "Try that again, and I'll shoot *you * next time. Sheriff Valenti, Roswell police dept. You're all under arrest." The Sheriff looked around the room, taking in the situation in a glance.

"Jade! Is Jade okay?" Valenti knelt down beside Adam and Megabyte, who was still trying to get some response out of the young girl.

Megabyte looked up, and Adam was shocked to see the tears rolling down his cheeks. "She's still alive," he said. "I can sense her, but only just. Adam, we've got to do something. Maybe if we combine our powers we could try and heal her."

Adam shook his head. "I haven't got those powers any more, Megabyte. Don't you think I wish I had?"

"I don't care. We've got to try." Megabyte looked around the room and saw Brooke-Smyth cowering in the corner. "Take off Adam's headband," he yelled. "Take it off, now." His blue eyes flashed dangerously as he spoke, and Adam knew he was close to losing control. 

Brooke-Smythe moved across the room and picked up the small silver tool on the floor beside Masters' body. "I can't," whimpered the scientist. He pointed to the small device he had waved over Megabyte's headband earlier to remove it. "It was damaged when he fell. There's no way to remove your friends' silencer bands now, no way at all."

*********

Part Eighteen

Sheriff Valenti broke the silence in the room after Brooke-Smythe's statement. He pulled his phone out, dialled, then shook it. "Damn," he said. "No signal. Wonder why?" He glanced a couple of times at Jade and then back at Damon, still standing over Masters' body. "You okay, Bill?" 

Damon seemed to bring himself out of the world he'd retreated into since the shooting. The angry look of mere minutes before had been replaced by one of regret or maybe even guilt. He nodded. "Go get some help quickly before it's too late. I'll look after things here."

"You sure?" Valenti seemed hesitant.

"Sure. Don't worry. I'm not going to shoot anyone else if that's what you're worried about." He dropped the gun that was still in his hand onto the floor beside Masters still form, as if to reinforce his intent.

"Masters threatened Megabyte," pointed out Max. "Think about how you'd feel if it had been Kyle."

Max could have sworn he saw Valenti's expression change for an instant to one almost mirroring Damon's own just before he had shot Masters. He looked again and it was gone as the man composed himself. Where was Kyle? Had something happened to him as well?

"I'm going to find a real phone and call for an ambulance," Valenti announced. "Do what you can for Jade, and I'll get help as soon as I can." His voice softened. "How is she?"

"She's hanging in there, but I don't know for how much longer," replied Adam. "I think the only reason she's still with us is the telepathic connection she has with Megabyte. Once that goes…" The Australian shook his head, his face grim.

"I'll be as fast as I can," promised Valenti as he headed for the door. 

Max stared at the departing figure and back again at the young girl lying in Megabyte's arms. If only there was a way to remove his headband, he'd be able to try to heal her. He gritted his teeth in frustration. Damn these headbands, he felt so useless. He couldn't just sit there and watch Jade fade away, not when he should be able to do something to help her.

"Jade! I heard gunshots just after she teleported." Isabel sought her brother out as she entered the basement room, her relief that he was okay soon turning to horror as she noticed Jade lying crumpled against the very friend she'd been looking for. "What happened?"

"She's been shot," replied Megabyte dully. "Masters tried to kill me, and Jade…Jade took the bullet instead. This is all my fault. If only I'd been able to shoot him, if only…"

"Stop that, Megabyte," admonished Adam. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have killed him, none of us could have. You can't fight something that you have no control over. Besides the gun was empty, Masters was just playing a very sick game with you. If you start feeling guilty now, he's won."

Damon put an arm around his son, but Megabyte brushed it away. "It's not your fault Megabyte. You couldn't have known that Jade would teleport in like that." He glanced back at the body of the man he'd killed. "Even though Masters is dead, I'm not sure I should have killed him. Maybe that's one of the reasons why Tomorrow People can't kill, to stop this kind of thing from happening. I should have let Masters stand trial, it would have been better." He shrugged. "Still I can't undo what's been done. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't help Jade does it? At least you still had the choice to kill. It wasn't already made for you." Megabyte still didn't sound convinced.

Isabel leant over to Max, whispering to him quietly. "Why don't you heal her?"

Max pointed to the headbands that he and Adam were still wearing. "I can't get this off. The device to remove it has been damaged, and I don't know what to do." Max could see his sister's mind racing, as she tried to search for a solution, any solution.

"What happens if you try to just pull it off?" she asked.

"There's some kind of device attached to it that sends a feedback loop through it. From what I've tried so far, it doesn't look good."

"So we need to bypass the device somehow or…"

Max jumped suddenly as Alex appeared out of thin air in front of him, with a dark girl he hadn't seen before. This must be Adam and Megabyte's friend Ami, he reasoned as she spoke.

"Jade, how's Jade? Megabyte?"

"She's fading Ami. I don't know how long I can hang on to her." As the young man spoke, Jade writhed and then lay still. Megabyte closed his eyes in concentration and fell silent again.

Obviously trying to keep the link between them open, Max thought. He put his hand towards his head. Maybe he should just try to remove the thing anyway. After all he couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

He felt a hand come up to stop him. Adam was looking at him, a look of pain of his face. "Don't," he said. "It's not going to help Jade if that feedback circuit kicks in. There must be another way. I just wish I knew what it was."

"What about telekinesis?" asked Ami. "What if I tried to remove it that way?"

"Yeah, but what if you accidentally blew it up while you were looking for the release button?" pointed out Alex.

Michael came over and joined them, one eye on his friends, the other on Damon. Obviously he wasn't as sure of the man as Valenti had been. "That should keep them in one place for a while," he said, indicating Brooke-Smythe and his companions. He'd just finished tying the men up with some rope he'd found in the room next door.

"I've got it!" exclaimed Isabel. "What if I changed the molecular structure of the headband itself into something else? Then we could remove it no problem."

Alex was now standing next to Isabel, his gaze shifting between her and Jade. He must have known that Izzy was with Jade, Max realised and had thought the worst when Ami had picked up on the shooting.

"Isabel is… like Michael," explained Ami, noticing the quizzical look Damon was giving the tall blond girl. 

Max nodded. "Could work," he confirmed, bending his head towards her.

"But what if it doesn't?" pointed out Adam. "Try me first, just in case."

Max shook his head firmly. "Makes more sense, if it's me. I still have my healing powers, you said you don't. At the moment I think I'm Jade's only chance."

Adam looked as though he was going to argue, but then after glancing again at Jade, backed down. "Just be careful, okay."

Isabel placed her hands just above Max's head and concentrated. Max felt a strange sensation run through him and swooned as he felt the nullifying effects of the headband dissipate. This must have been what Megabyte felt earlier, he thought, remembering how the older boy had reacted when his own headband had been removed. He put his hands to his head and gingerly removed the band. 

Jade groaned and he knelt beside her quickly, placing his hands over the open wound. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the damage undoing itself, the fibres of her skin knitting back together, becoming whole again.

Max felt himself begin to shake He opened his eyes as he tried to steady himself.

"What's wrong?" asked Adam.

Max frowned. "I still feel a bit weak from the headband, I think." Yeah that must be it. That and the fact that Jade's injury was a lot more serious than anything he'd healed before. When he'd healed Liz at the Crashdown all those months ago it had been almost straight after she'd been shot. Jade had been drifting in and out of consciousness for a good ten minutes, maybe longer.

Max placed his hands over Jade and tried again. Come on Jade, come on, he thought desperately. You've got people here who care about you. You can't just leave them. He could feel the perspiration dripping down his face as his energy levels began to drop.

Suddenly he was aware of someone placing a hand on his shoulder. Adam, although his healing powers had deserted him, was trying to support the young alien telepathically. Max noticed another presence alongside Jade's faint psychic aura. Must be Megabyte, he realised. Another presence entered the link followed closely by two more. Ami, Isabel and Michael were all joining in to help him save Jade.

It's working, he thought, relief flooding through him, as he felt the sudden surge of energy which was the sign his healing power was kicking in properly. Jade was becoming stronger, and slowly beginning her journey back from the twilight place between life and death.

As Jade herself connected with him, Max saw a series of images flash through his mind. They reminded him of the flashes he'd seen when he'd healed Liz, portions of her life replaying like a movie. Liz. Thank goodness she hadn't come with them. Once they got out of this mess, he'd tell her how he felt about her. Watching Megabyte and Jade had made him realise how short life was. They had nearly lost their future in an instant, never admitting how they felt to each other.

The images from Jade came faster and faster. Max saw a younger Jade leaning over a dog, tears streaming down her face, as an older woman examined the animal.

"Do you think I could be a Tomorrow Person?" Max could see through Jade's eyes Megabyte's expression as that question was asked.

"Megabyte! Wake up! Wake up!" The hissing from the boiler was getting louder and louder. It wouldn't be long before the room exploded around them…

"Teleported? Me? I teleported?" Jade gazed in wonder at the alien symbols on the walls around her. 

"Get your hands off me. What have you done with my friends?" The large building looked very old, in fact it almost had a gothic air about it.

"Adam what's happening? Is Kevin okay?" The teenager lay on the sand, not moving. Adam turned his face towards her, a look of panic reflected in his brown eyes.

"What if General Damon doesn't find out what's wrong with them?" Max could see the same boy from the previous flash put his arms around Jade, trying to comfort her.

[Teleport, Jade. Go warn Adam and the others.]  
  
Jade hesitated. [Megabyte…] 

"I've found him," exclaimed Jade triumphantly. She focused on her friend and teleported…

***********

Jade opened her eyes and her gaze met Max's and then Megabyte's. She gave a weak smile and struggled to sit up.

"Hey take it easy, kid." Megabyte had a big grin on his face as he put his hand out to support her.

Max could feel the relief flowing from the American Tomorrow Person as the echoes of the telepathic link faded. He sat back himself against the basement wall, feeling the cold concrete against his spine. He took deep breaths, trying to regain his composure. He felt very drained, but the look on Megabyte's face and the rest of those in the room mirrored his own, he was sure.

"Megabyte…" Jade started to say.

"Save it, okay. We'll talk later." Megabyte suddenly looked uncomfortable and seemed very interested in a mark on the wall just past Jade's shoulder.

Max noticed the shine in Jade's eyes as she followed her friend's gaze and grinned to himself. Yeah right, Megabyte.

*********

Kevin stirred and looked around groggily. Where was he? As he tried to fight his way back to consciousness, he was dimly aware of someone leaning over him.

"He's coming around."

"I told you we should have used more of the drug. Beckett warned us that the dose wasn't enough. The Evans kid didn't stay under as long as he was supposed to remember?"

Kevin felt a needle slide into his arm and his eyes fluttered open again. Got to get help, he told himself. Got to get help. He looked around the room and saw the handle of a gun coming towards him.

As the darkness overtook him again he telepathed a frantic cry for help hoping that someone, anyone would hear him.

***********

Part Nineteen

Adam put his hand out to steady himself as the flash hit him. He leaned against the cold concrete wall, trying to shake the woozy feeling creeping up on him. He shook his head, hoping it would clear but still felt as though he was navigating through a forest of cotton wool.

He was aware dimly of someone speaking to him, but tried instead to reach out with his mind, or at least the part of it that was still functioning, to find the source of the telepathic transmission. 

"What was that?" Ami sounded shaky. In fact she sounded much as Adam himself felt.

He opened his eyes and straightened up as he started to regain his composure. Looking around he noticed that both Ami and Megabyte looked deathly pale. Jade had gone to sleep on one of the cots in the room, though she twitched in her sleep, almost as though she were having a bad dream. Must be picking up on what we are, the Australian reasoned. Whatever it was, he was thankful that Jade was asleep. She'd already gone through more than enough for one day.

"Yeah what was that?" Megabyte echoed Ami's question. "Did you guys get that image of a gun?"

Adam nodded, worry creeping up on him as he realised something. "Where's Kevin?" he asked Ami. It had suddenly dawned on him that he hadn't seen the British boy since leaving him and Ami at the ship earlier that day.

Ami put her hand to her mouth. "Kevin. We've got to help Kevin. Adam he's…" 

Adam felt his body go rigid as waves of darkness washed over him in rapid succession. He leant back onto the wall of the small basement room, waiting for the feeling to pass.

"You guys okay?" Michael looked worried. 

"Yeah we're fine. I think Kevin needs help though, and fast." Megabyte was sitting at the end of the cot where Jade was sleeping, holding his head in his hands. "That was weird, Adam. What do you think happened?"

"I'm not sure. Whatever it is though, I think we'd better get to him as soon as possible." Adam had a nasty suspicion at the back of his mind as to what could be happening to Kevin, but didn't want to share it until he was sure.

Damon stepped forward, helping Adam to his feet. "Masters' men have him in London," he explained. A frown creased his features as he turned to Megabyte. "Were you and Max drugged at any stage?"

Megabyte nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, we were." He slapped himself on the head and then winced. "That feeling from Kev, it's the same way I felt as I was coming to after the drugs wore off. Fuzzy head, the whole nine yards. Not as bad as that though."

Max interrupted. "I remember starting to come around while you were still out cold. Maybe the drugs didn't work as well on me because of my different physiology."

Adam felt a cold feeling hit him in the pit of his stomach, as he realised that Max was beginning to put his fears into words, "You mean they could have upped the dosage for Kevin, not realising that for a human, it might be…"

Damon finished the sentence for him. "Fatal. Yes that's what I was afraid of, and why I asked about the drugs. I know the connection Tomorrow People have with one another and saw your reaction. I really hoped I was wrong."

Adam came to a decision. "We need to go to London. If Kevin is having a reaction to these drugs, we'll need to get him out and to a hospital."

Michael stepped forward. "I'm coming with you. If these guys have Kevin and your other friends, you're going to need help."

"What other friends?" Megabyte turned a shade paler as he obviously put two and two together. "Dad? Is Millie is trouble?" 

"Yes they have Millie….and Geoff. " Damon confirmed his son's suspicions.

"And Kyle," Isabel added, glancing up from where she was kneeling next to her brother. Even though Max sounded a lot better, it was still obvious that the whole healing thing had drained him a great deal. Adam remembered how he had felt the few times he had used his own healing powers before they had deserted him. There would be no way Max would be up to a trip to London just yet.

"I'm coming, too." Ami offered. You'll need help to teleport Kevin and the others out. You can't do it all on your own, Adam." Michael shot Ami a filthy look, and she continued hurriedly, directing her next comment at him. "I meant teleport. Last time I looked I didn't think you guys could do that."

Jade stirred, and opened her eyes. "Megabyte?" she asked, looking around. She looked so small, curled up in a ball with the grey blankets on the cot pulled around her.

"It's okay, kid, I'm here." Megabyte ran his hand gently through her hair as he moved further up the cot to comfort her. 

Jade's eyes grew wide. "I saw Kevin!" she exclaimed. "He's in trouble."

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry. The Cavalry is gonna be there in a minute." Megabyte glanced at Adam for a moment, coming to a decision. "You guys go. I'm gonna stay here in case Dad needs a hand. You know, in case some more of the bad guys show up. Look out for Millie okay?"

You're only staying in case your dad needs a hand? Yeah right, Megabyte, thought Adam looking at the way his friend was watching Jade. He knew how hard it was for the American not to go after his sister. They were close, even though he knew neither Millie nor her brother would ever admit it. "Don't worry, Megabyte, Millie will be okay. It's us they want, not her remember." He straightened himself and spoke to Ami. "We go in, you grab Kevin and teleport him out. Michael and I will look after the others. Okay?"

Adam put his hand on Michael's shoulder and concentrated, focusing on where Kevin's last telepathic transmission had originated. Behind him he felt Ami do the same and within moments the three of them disappeared in a white light, enroute to London.

**********

Michael opened his eyes as soon as the strange tingling sensation stopped. He, Adam and Ami were standing in front of a sofa in the living room of an old house. He heard a noise and spun round, just as he began to get his bearings.

"Hit the ground," he yelled, as a white light fanned over the spot they had just been standing.

Michael poked his head around the side of the sofa the three of them had dived behind and took in the situation in a glance. Kevin was out cold on the sofa, while Kyle and two teenagers were sitting tied to wooden chairs on the other side of the room. The red headed girl must be Megabyte's sister, he observed noticing the family resemblance. The other boy must be Geoff.

"Come out from behind there with your hands in the air," ordered the tall dark haired slim man who had just fired on them.

[Kevin doesn't look too good, Adam] commented Ami. [I can barely sense his presence, and he's fading fast]

Michael noticed her lips weren't moving as she 'spoke'. Must be using telepathy again. "You've got to get him to a hospital. Can you reach him from here?" he whispered.

Ami nodded. [I need a distraction though.]

Michael looked over at the large flower pot on the small round table by the doorway. He raised his hand and concentrated. A few seconds later there was a loud bang as the pot exploded, sending pieces of the pot and what was the left of the plant across the room. "That do?" he asked Ami.

"What the hell?" The other commando, a shorter well built man with brown hair, spun around, and fired almost on instinct.

Ami slipped around the couch, and disappeared in a flash of white light, taking Kevin with her.

Why do I get the feeling that was the easy part? Michael didn't like the look of the guns the two men carried. Must be more of those taser weapons like he'd seen before in the flash at the UFO centre. 

The taller commando seemed to pull himself together faster than his companion. He levelled his gun at the two boys and spoke again, his English accent sounding even more clipped, as the annoyance in his voice became obvious. "Don't think that vase is going anywhere in a hurry, Dickon," he commented to his associate.

Guy doesn't sound to overjoyed to see us. Wonder why? Michael grinned to himself despite of the situation.

"But Captain Colby…" The shorter man glanced at Adam and Michael and back at his superior.

"Come on you two, out from behind the sofa." Colby levelled his gun again, this time at Millie. "No flying vases this time, okay?"

Adam raised his hands and slowly came out from behind the sofa. Michael wondered why he was giving up so easily and stayed where he was, trying to think of an alternative plan.

[Michael?] Adam's telepathic voice sounded urgent. [Michael, he'll shoot Millie.]

"Hey come on, I'm on your side," Michael followed Adam out from behind the sofa, his hands in the air. "Masters sent me to deliver him to you."

"Really?" Colby sounded suspicious.

Michael lowered his arms, and spoke slowly trying to ignore Adam's voice inside his mind. "Really." He glanced at the empty sofa where Kevin had laid only moments before. "Masters wasn't too concerned about the other one." Michael gestured towards Adam. "This is the one you want."

Dickon lowered his gun, confusion evident in his eyes. At the same moment Michael heard a movement and spun around, just in time to see Kyle dive out of his chair and head butt the man to the floor. Stupid idiot, he thought. He's going to ruin everything. Unless…

Michael raised his hand, and concentrated. Hopefully Kyle was too busy to notice what was about to happen. Colby flew through the air and crashed against the far wall, his rifle falling from his grasp. 

"Grab the rifle," Michael yelled at Adam. He headed over to Millie and Geoff and used his powers to untie them from the chairs they were restrained to. Kyle's ropes lay empty over his, Michael noticed. Obviously he'd managed to loosen them previously and had been waiting for an opportunity to take action.

"Could use those ropes over here," called Kyle. He had subdued Dickon and was turning the man onto his stomach, his arms pinned behind him. "Coach would be proud." Good, thought Michael. Looked as though Kyle hadn't noticed him using his powers, or maybe he'd thought the bad guy's trip had been courtesy of Adam.

"Yeah, whatever," Michael looked around for Adam, wondering what was taking the Tomorrow Person so long. To his amazement the Australian was looking at the rifle in his hands with an expression of disgust. What was wrong with him? 

Colby pulled himself to his feet and lunged at Adam, who disappeared. Michael grabbed the weapon Dickon had dropped and aimed it at the man. "Stop right there," the young alien ordered as Adam reappeared by his side, dropping the rifle to the floor.

Geoff picked up the downed weapon and levelled it at Dickon. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you now!"

"Geoff, no!" Adam sounded upset. "Go phone the authorities, let them sort things out. Put the gun down."

"You must admit Geoff has a point," pointed out Michael. "These guys were going to shoot us. Why shouldn't we give them a taste of their own medicine? They're only taser guns, it's not as though it's going to kill them."

"No!" exclaimed Adam again.

"Oh I get it," Kyle sounded almost amused. "It's that no kill thing. You guys don't like violence either."

Michael glanced at the two commandos in front of him as a thought struck him. He spoke to Adam, a tone of respect in his voice. It was a feeling that was new to him, a feeling that was quite…alien. He laughed to himself at the ironic phrase. The conversation he'd heard before between Megabyte, Adam and Damon suddenly made sense. Sure he'd been listening to what they had been saying but the whole non-killing concept hadn't really sunk in, until now. "You and Ami came here to take on these guys knowing that you couldn't really defend yourselves, didn't you?"

Adam nodded, running his hand through his dark hair. "Part of the joy of being a Tomorrow Person, as Megabyte would say," he confirmed. "Come on, let's get back to Roswell." Adam suddenly seemed almost embarrassed by the attention. "Geoff, Millie will you guys be okay once the police arrive?"

"Yeah, sure," Geoff suddenly seemed a bit subdued. Michael wondered if it had been what Adam had just said.

"We'll be fine," Millie added. "Just tell Megabyte and Dad to get home. They are okay aren't they, Adam?"

Adam seemed miles away for an instant and then seemed to become aware of his surroundings again as he replied. "Yeah, they're fine, Millie. Sorry, just talking to Ami. Kevin is stable, but the hospital says it will take a few days before he's feeling right again. She's going to stay with him for a bit." He reached his hands out to Kyle and Michael.

Kyle backed away. "I'm not doing that teleporting thing again. Once was enough, thanks."

"It's either that or you're stuck here," grinned Adam. "It gets better each time, trust me on that."

"Jock like you scared of a little teleport?" Michael laughed. "Wonder what the girls would think of that one?"

Kyle reached out and put his hand on Adam's shoulder. "I'm not scared! Seriously wigged yes, scared no. See!"

Michael was still laughing to himself as Adam initiated the teleport.

***********

Part Twenty

"Max, you're okay." Liz sounded very relieved as Max, Jade and Megabyte materialised in front of her. She got up from under the large tree she had been leaning against, and walked over to Max. As he looked down at her, Max noticed her eyes seemed unnaturally bright. She'd been crying, he realised, though she was trying hard to hide it. 

"Be back in a moment," promised Megabyte as he disappeared in another flash of light.

"He's gone back for Isabel and Alex," explained Max. "General Damon thought it might be a good idea if we weren't around when the authorities turned up. He thinks he's going to have enough fun explaining what's been happening as it is."

Max felt Liz sidle up against him and slid his arm around her, almost without thinking. It felt so good to be with her again. He'd come so close to almost never seeing her again that it scared him. As he'd watched Megabyte and Jade together after Michael and the others had left for London, Max hadn't been able to get Liz out of his mind. What if Masters had killed them before help had arrived? What if the truth had come out about who he really was? What if…what if?

One thing he did know for certain was that he wasn't going to go on not knowing if he and Liz had a future. It was time he acted on his feelings. You make your own future. Yes, it was dangerous for Liz to be involved with him because of who he was, but if she was willing to take the risk, well maybe he should too. After all it was fairly obvious by the fact she was here, waiting for him that she was more concerned about his welfare than her own. If she was ready to think of him first, it was only fair that he did the same.

"Michael. Where's Michael?" Maria looked around anxiously. Max looked up guilty as she came out from behind the tree. He'd been so wrapped up in seeing Liz again that he hadn't even noticed she was there. "Do you have any idea what it's been like for Liz and I hanging around here, not knowing what's been going on? Well do you?"

As if in answer to her question, there was another flash of light and Michael, Kyle and Adam appeared next to her.

Maria threw herself at Michael, who backed off looking very uncomfortable.

"Hey, why don't I get that sort of greeting?" Megabyte re appeared, this time with Isabel and Alex in tow.

Jade grinned and threw herself at the American Tomorrow Person, whose face quickly began to change to match the colour of his hair.

Adam laughed. "I think you asked for that one, Megabyte."

"Yeah, whatever. I just left Dad and Sheriff Valenti working out what they are going to tell the police." Max noticed that although Megabyte had changed the subject he hadn't pushed Jade away. The redhead leaned back against the tree Liz had been taking shelter under when Max had teleported in with him a few minutes earlier, Jade still staying close.

"Where's my dad?" Kyle wanted to know. "I need to see him, to let him know I'm okay."

Adam looked hesitant. "But what about keeping a low profile?"

"He's the sheriff's son," Max pointed out. "I don't think they're going to question it too much if he goes in looking for his dad. He can act like he doesn't know what's been happening. Can't you, Kyle?"

"I *don't * know what's happening. Nothing that happened today makes any sense, and I think it's easier to keep it that way," Kyle said. "Look, I owe you guys. I'm not going to let on that I know about all that teleporting stuff. Now where's Dad?"

"He's down by the main gates talking to the cops," Megabyte told him. "It might be safer if you go on your own though. If I teleport you my Dad will kill me."

"Fine by me," Kyle turned to head towards the old factory, then turned and paused. "Adam thanks for what you did in London, hope Kevin is okay. If I don't see you guys again…" He stopped, obviously unsure of what to say.

Michael coughed and Max stifled a grin. 

"Oh yeah, thanks, Michael." Kyle muttered his reply so softly that Max had trouble hearing him. He then turned and started walking briskly down the hill towards Masters' former base of operations to meet his father.

"I think you were lucky to get that out of him, Michael," pointed out Liz. "Kyle feels quite uncomfortable around you guys. It will probably take him a while to come to grips with what he's been through today. He didn't find out about you did he?"

Michael shook his head. "I used my powers in London but I'm sure Kyle didn't see it. I think he though all the weird stuff came from Adam, not me."

"See, Adam," Megabyte said with a grin. "I always told you I wasn't the only weird one around here."

"Yeah right, Megabyte." Adam grinned back at his fellow Tomorrow Person. "So I take it the sheriff doesn't know about you guys either?" The last question was directed at Max who shook his head.

"We'd prefer to leave it that way too if that's okay. Megabyte, your father…" Max glanced down at the factory gates again. Luckily the large tree they were sheltering behind also hid them from anyone who might be looking out from Masters' former base. He shivered. The old building looked so harmless from the outside, quite at odds to how close they had been to losing everything while within its walls. Still the person behind that was dead now, dead and gone. Hopefully the threat he posed had died with him.

"No, he won't tell," the redhead reassured him. "Dad's good at keeping secrets. He's had loads of practice over the last few years. When I left, he and Kyle's dad were telling the cops that Masters had come after us because of his job."

"Yeah, but what about Max?" Maria wanted to know. "Surely the cops know that he isn't connected to General Damon?"

"Yeah, but Max got involved because Masters thought he was me," Adam reminded them. "If they stick to that story, I don't really see a problem."

Max looked around the group again. Megabyte and Jade were leaning against the old tree, his arms casually around her. Maria had moved closer to Michael, though he was pretending not to notice. Alex had his arms around Isabel and Max realised how comfortable his sister looked next to him. Maybe he hadn't been the only one who had realised you needed to embrace happiness while you still could. Max looked again at his friends, both old and new, and smiled to himself. It was reassuring to see them all together again. After the events of the day he had wondered if that was ever going to happen again. They'd *all * come so close to losing everything that mattered.

Max frowned. Someone was missing. Ami hadn't returned from London with the others. He turned to ask Adam and noticed the young man was standing quietly, seemingly staring into space. "Is Kevin okay?" he asked the Australian "Where's Ami?"

"Kevin's fine," Adam reassured him. "He'll be in the hospital for a while, but he's out of danger. I was just talking to Ami, she going to stay with him for a while."

"Hey, I almost forgot about this." Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out a CD. "Ami and I got some information from the computer in Masters' office. Maybe you guys should take it and give it to General Damon." He walked over from where he was standing with Isabel and handed the disc to Megabyte. "Masters sent a whole lot of information about the Tomorrow People to someone called Simon Trent."

Adam frowned as a thought occurred to him. "If Masters was working with someone else, maybe the danger isn't over yet. Do you know if there is anything on here about Max?"

Alex shook his head. "I had a look through the information on the computer before I initiated the transfer, and I didn't see anything."

"You saw all the information Masters sent?" Michael asked, shifting his position to stand in front of Alex. Max could see what his friend was thinking. If this Trent had information about the existence of aliens, they would be in as much danger as the Tomorrow People.

"Yeah. Hawkins didn't show up until after I started the file transfer, at least I didn't think he did." Alex saw the puzzled faces around him and continued. "Hawkins was that young blonde guy working for Masters. Except he wasn't really working for Masters, at least he said he wasn't. He told us he was working undercover for someone else but wouldn't say who."  
  
"Did you believe him?" Isabel wanted to know. "Come on Alex, it's important."

"He was doing a good bad guy impression when he shoved a gun into my back at the UFO centre," Megabyte remembered. "I wouldn't trust anyone who worked for Masters. That guy was one fry short of a Happy Meal." He looked down at Jade, an expression of anger fleeting briefly over his features. "How do we know this Hawkins guy hasn't legged it straight over to Trent? After all no one's seen him apart from Alex and Ami. He must have disappeared after you guys teleported to the basement."

"We don't," admitted Adam, looking worried. "That's why I'm wondering if maybe we shouldn't come here again." He moved to stand alongside Max.

"But, Adam," protested Jade. "We've made new friends, friends who know what it's like to be different from everyone else. We can't just say goodbye and never see them again."

Max thought for a moment about what Adam was suggesting and then spoke up. "I'm sorry, Jade, but I agree with Adam on this one. This whole thing happened because Masters thought I was Adam, right?"

"Looks that way," commented Michael, glancing at Adam, Max and then back to the Australian again.

"If the only information on that disc is about the Tomorrow People, and we never see them again, there is less chance of that happening a second time."

"But Max…" Isabel protested. "We've finally found others who know what we're going through. I can't see how it would hurt to at least stay in contact."

Max shook his head. "I know what you're saying, Izzy, but what if that contact led someone else like Masters to us, to all of us. Jade is lucky to be alive, what if next time she isn't so lucky? What if Trent's organisation, whatever it is, gets hold of one of the other Tomorrow People because of the contact between us? It's not worth the risk."

Adam nodded his head in agreement, running his hand through his hair. "I agree with Max, though my concern goes both ways. If contact with us caused something to happen to you guys, we'd never forgive ourselves."

"Yeah, but what if Alex is wrong and there is information about Max on that CD?" pointed out Megabyte. "What then?"

"We'll worry about that if and when it happens. I'm hoping that Masters only passed on information about us. Remember it's the Tomorrow People he wanted to get his hands on. After all, before the mix up, he didn't even know about the existence of aliens." Adam was trying to take charge of the situation, Max realised as he listening to the Australian.

"Yeah, okay, if you put it that way." Megabyte turned to Jade. "Sorry, kid I think Adam's right."

Jade opened her mouth and closed it again, a look of resignation forming. "Well I guess this is goodbye, then." She went over to Liz and then Maria and gave them each a hug. "I suppose I can't even see you guys again even though you aren't like them."

Liz shook her head. "I wish I could say different, Jade, but I can't. I couldn't handle it if someone got their hands on Max again, I'm sorry. Look I know it wasn't your fault, that's not what I'm saying but…" Her voice tailed off as she started to choke on her words.

Maria reached for her hanky and sniffed. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to you guys either you know. Maybe the world isn't ready for Czechoslovakians yet, either alien or home grown." Liz left Max's side and put her arm around her friend

"Czechoslovakians?" asked Megabyte. "Code word for aliens, right?"

Maria nodded but Michael spoke up before she could say anything else. "I think Max and Adam are right, for what it's worth. Better to be safe than sorry. Come on, give me your keys Maria. It's time we left." He looked down again at Valenti and General Damon talking, grabbed the keys out of Maria's hand and started walking towards the roadside on the other side of the small hill they were on. Maria shrugged and followed, a look of resignation on her face.

"Michael's not real big on goodbyes," Isabel explained. "I'd better go after them. Thanks for helping to save my brother." She gave the Tomorrow People a brief hug and then turned and ran after Michael and Maria.

"All part of the service." Megabyte looked a bit embarrassed. "Come on Jade, I think we'd better go. Looks like Dad is nearly finished up with the sheriff. He was going to sort out some stuff in town and call me later when he wants a 'ride' home."

"I'd better go after Isabel," said Alex. "Hey if you have any problems with that disc, or find anything that shouldn't be on it…"

"We'll be fine," promised Megabyte. He looked at the disc again before sliding it back into his pocket. "Hope this thing isn't a sign of more trouble," he commented.

"Hope not," Alex echoed his words. "See you guys later. Well I won't, but you know what I mean." He looked towards Isabel's retreating form, waved at Megabyte, Jade and Adam and broke into a trot to catch up with her.

Jade walked over to Max and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for saving my life, Max," she said simply. "I'll always remember you." She closed her eyes and teleported.

"I'd better go after her." Megabyte stood up straight, leaving the shelter of the tree and walked over to where Jade had been moments before. He shook Max's hand. [Thanks for everything] 

Max could feel the emotion behind the 'unspoken' thanks the Tomorrow Person mentally sent him. Not a problem, he thought.

"Coming, Adam?" Megabyte asked his friend.

"In a minute. I'll see you at the ship, okay?" 

Megabyte grinned. "Okay." He closed his eyes to initiate the teleport. "Hey at least we've learnt one thing from all this."

Max looked at him, wondering what was coming. Beside him he could hear Adam quietly groan in anticipation.

"We are not alone." Megabyte looked at the faces in front of him, an innocent look on his face. "Maybe Mulder does have a point after all." He grinned at Adam. "Jade's calling. Don't leave me alone in her clutches for too long, okay?" He concentrated and disappeared, heading for the Tomorrow People's ship and Jade.

Max smiled to himself. "You Tomorrow People take care of yourselves, too. Maybe one day when the world is ready to learn about the existence of both of us, we can meet again."

Adam nodded. "Hope it's sooner rather than later. Sorry about getting you into this mess, Max. We owe you."

Liz came and stood by Max's side. The others would be waiting for them down at the roadside, probably impatiently waiting if the truth were known. "We owe you just as much, Adam," she pointed out as she kissed the Australian gently on the cheek. "Thanks for bringing Max back to me."

Max could swear he saw the young man blush as he disappeared in a flash of white light.

"Come on, Liz," he said as he put his arm around her and headed back to the others. Max smiled to himself. Megabyte was right, he decided. Even though the two groups had to part ways, at least now they knew they were no longer alone. A quote he'd heard once in English class came unbidden to his mind. 'For knowledge itself is power.'

And with that power came the strength for them to face their future, whatever it might hold.

***********

~Fin~

The fourth story in the "Tears in Heaven" series will be a Tomorrow People story called ''Where the Winds Blow."


End file.
